Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

Hepatitis C

Should antiviral therapy be offered to elderly patients?

Nature Reviews Gastroenterology & Hepatology volume 6, pages 503–504 (2009)Cite this article

Relatively little information exists on the prognosis for elderly patients with chronic hepatitis C (CHC). Moreover, the majority of randomized, clinical trials of hepatitis C treatment exclude elderly patients. Findings from a 2009 clinical study address risk of hepatocellular carcinoma, life expectancy and the influence of antiviral therapy in elderly patients with CHC.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Floreani, A. et al. Are elderly patients poor candidates for pegylated interferon plus ribavirin in the treatment of chronic hepatitis C? J. Am. Geriatr. Soc. 54, 549–550 (2006).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Ikeda, K., et al. Necessities of interferon therapy in elderly patients with chronic hepatitis C. Am. J. Med. 122, 479–486, (2009).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Armstrong, G. L. et al. The prevalence of hepatitis C virus infection in the United States, 1999 through 2002. Ann. Intern. Med. 144, 705–714 (2006).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Yoshizawa, H., Tanaka, J. & Miyakawa, Y. National prevention of hepatocellular carcinoma in Japan based on epidemiology of hepatitis C virus infection in the general population. Intervirology 49, 7–17 (2006).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Heathcote, J. Prevention of hepatitis C-virus related hepatocellular carcinoma. Gastroenterology 127 (Suppl. 1), S294–S302 (2004).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Hot topics in hepatitis C virus treatment: Recommendations from an AISF/SIMID/SIMAST Expert Opinion Meeting [online], (2009).

  7. Thabut, D. et al. Hepatitis C in 6,865 patients 65 yr or older: a severe and neglected curable disease? Am. J. Gastroenterol. 101, 1260–1267 (2006).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Iwasaki, Y. et al. Limitation of combination therapy of interferon and ribavirin for older patients with chronic hepatitis C. Hepatology 43, 54–63 (2006).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Marcus, E.-L. & Tur-Kaspa, R. Viral hepatitis in older adults. J. Am. Geriatr. Soc. 45, 755–763 (1997).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Surgical and Gastroenterological Sciences, University of Padova, Padova, Italy

    Annarosa Floreani

Authors
  1. Annarosa Floreani
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Annarosa Floreani.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The author declares no competing financial interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Floreani, A. Should antiviral therapy be offered to elderly patients?. Nat Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol 6, 503–504 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrgastro.2009.138

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrgastro.2009.138

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing