Evaluating the effectiveness of a population-level health intervention to increment HCV treatment coverage in tuscany region, Italy: An interrupted time series analysis.

Worldwide, an estimated 57.8 million people are chronically infected with the Hepatitis C virus (HCV). The advent of direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) has made possible the definition of elimination targets by 2030. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a population-level health interventi...

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Main Authors: Chiara Seghieri, Luca Ceccarelli, Costanza Tortù, Lara Tavoschi
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2025-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0306733
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author Chiara Seghieri
Luca Ceccarelli
Costanza Tortù
Lara Tavoschi
author_facet Chiara Seghieri
Luca Ceccarelli
Costanza Tortù
Lara Tavoschi
author_sort Chiara Seghieri
collection DOAJ
description Worldwide, an estimated 57.8 million people are chronically infected with the Hepatitis C virus (HCV). The advent of direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) has made possible the definition of elimination targets by 2030. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a population-level health intervention to expand access to HCV treatment in the Tuscany Region, Italy. We used individual-level administrative data from the Tuscany region, collected between January 2015 and December 2022. Data include monthly observations on i) the number of serological tests to detect HCV, ii) the number of PCR tests to detect HCV and, iii) the number of prescriptions of direct-acting antivirals against HCV. We implemented an Interrupted Time Series (ITS) model, where the primary outcome was the number of monthly prescriptions of direct-acting antivirals, while the number of tests to detect HCV were included as control variables. The analysis was implemented i) in the general population, ii) in specific sub-population groups. Results show that the health intervention promoted by the Tuscany Regional Health Authority was highly effective in increasing DAAs treatment coverage in the general population, while no significant effects were observed among sub-population groups. Findings of this study provide evidence to support policies at national and subnational levels to booster HCV screening and simplify access to DAA prescriptions.
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spelling doaj-art-e58aa4a7d7394fe5b52bb76cbdaf614f2025-08-20T03:47:28ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032025-01-01205e030673310.1371/journal.pone.0306733Evaluating the effectiveness of a population-level health intervention to increment HCV treatment coverage in tuscany region, Italy: An interrupted time series analysis.Chiara SeghieriLuca CeccarelliCostanza TortùLara TavoschiWorldwide, an estimated 57.8 million people are chronically infected with the Hepatitis C virus (HCV). The advent of direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) has made possible the definition of elimination targets by 2030. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a population-level health intervention to expand access to HCV treatment in the Tuscany Region, Italy. We used individual-level administrative data from the Tuscany region, collected between January 2015 and December 2022. Data include monthly observations on i) the number of serological tests to detect HCV, ii) the number of PCR tests to detect HCV and, iii) the number of prescriptions of direct-acting antivirals against HCV. We implemented an Interrupted Time Series (ITS) model, where the primary outcome was the number of monthly prescriptions of direct-acting antivirals, while the number of tests to detect HCV were included as control variables. The analysis was implemented i) in the general population, ii) in specific sub-population groups. Results show that the health intervention promoted by the Tuscany Regional Health Authority was highly effective in increasing DAAs treatment coverage in the general population, while no significant effects were observed among sub-population groups. Findings of this study provide evidence to support policies at national and subnational levels to booster HCV screening and simplify access to DAA prescriptions.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0306733
spellingShingle Chiara Seghieri
Luca Ceccarelli
Costanza Tortù
Lara Tavoschi
Evaluating the effectiveness of a population-level health intervention to increment HCV treatment coverage in tuscany region, Italy: An interrupted time series analysis.
PLoS ONE
title Evaluating the effectiveness of a population-level health intervention to increment HCV treatment coverage in tuscany region, Italy: An interrupted time series analysis.
title_full Evaluating the effectiveness of a population-level health intervention to increment HCV treatment coverage in tuscany region, Italy: An interrupted time series analysis.
title_fullStr Evaluating the effectiveness of a population-level health intervention to increment HCV treatment coverage in tuscany region, Italy: An interrupted time series analysis.
title_full_unstemmed Evaluating the effectiveness of a population-level health intervention to increment HCV treatment coverage in tuscany region, Italy: An interrupted time series analysis.
title_short Evaluating the effectiveness of a population-level health intervention to increment HCV treatment coverage in tuscany region, Italy: An interrupted time series analysis.
title_sort evaluating the effectiveness of a population level health intervention to increment hcv treatment coverage in tuscany region italy an interrupted time series analysis
url https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0306733
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AT costanzatortu evaluatingtheeffectivenessofapopulationlevelhealthinterventiontoincrementhcvtreatmentcoverageintuscanyregionitalyaninterruptedtimeseriesanalysis
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