Improved Health Outcomes from Hepatitis C Treatment Scale-Up in Spain's Prisons: A Cost-Effectiveness Study.

ABSTRACT: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is 15 times more prevalent among persons in Spain's prisons than in the community. Recently, Spain initiated a pilot program, JAILFREE-C, to treat HCV in prisons using direct-acting antivirals (DAAs). Our aim was to identify a cost-effective strategy to scale-up HCV treatment in all prisons. Using a validated agent-based model, we simulated the HCV landscape in Spain's prisons considering disease transmission, screening, treatment, and prison-community dynamics. Costs and disease outcomes under status quo were compared with strategies to scale-up treatment in prisons considering prioritization (HCV fibrosis stage vs. HCV prevalence of prisons), treatment capacity (2,000/year vs. unlimited) and treatment initiation based on sentence lengths (>6 months vs. any). Scali

SUBMITTER: Dalgic OO 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6856347 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature