Management of chronic hepatitis C in childhood: The impact of therapy in the clinical practice during the first 2 decades.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Treatment of chronic hepatitis C in children is controversial and its role in the clinical practice is unknown. We retrospectively investigated the impact of treatment in a large cohort of children with chronic hepatitis C over the past 20 years. METHODS: 376 hepatitis C virus RNA positive children were recruited consecutively in five Italian centres since 1990 and followed for 1-17 years. RESULTS: 86 (23%) subjects were treated: 73 with recombinant interferon alone and 13 with pegylated-interferon and ribavirin. Sustained clearance of hepatitis C virus RNA was observed in 25% of the former, in 92% of the latter and in 9% of untreated cases (p<0.001). Loss of viraemia was recorded in all children with genotype 2-3 and in 6 of 7 with hepatitis C virus genotype 1 treated with combination therapy. At last evaluation 45% of patients were young adults and 15% had cleared viraemia. Overall, 152 (40%) were putative candidates to therapy. CONCLUSIONS: Few Italian children with chronic hepatitis C have been treated in the past 20 years. The poor propensity to spontaneous clearance of viraemia and the efficacy of combination therapy should encourage to consider treatment in attempt to shorten the duration of viral replication.