{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,5,14]],"date-time":"2025-05-14T11:44:41Z","timestamp":1747223081769,"version":"3.40.5"},"reference-count":0,"publisher":"Journal of Infection in Developing Countries","issue":"04","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,4,30]],"date-time":"2023-04-30T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1682812800000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["J Infect Dev Ctries"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Introduction: We aimed to evaluate access to diagnosis, treatment and follow-up in patients with viral hepatitis during the COVID-19 pandemic.\nMethodology: Patients who started treatment for hepatitis B and hepatitis C were included in the study and analyzed in two periods: before-pandemic and during-pandemic. Indication for treatment and frequency of laboratory follow-up was obtained from hospital records. A telephone survey was administered to evaluate treatment access and compliance.\nResults: Four centers with 258 patients were included in the study. Of these 161 (62.4%) were male, median age was 50 years. The number of patients, admitted to outpatient clinics was 134647 in the before-pandemic period and 106548 in the during-pandemic period. Number of patients who started treatment for hepatitis B were significantly high during-pandemic period compared with before-pandemic (78 (0.07%); 73 (0.05%) respectively; p = 0.04). The number who received treatment for hepatitis C was similar in both periods: 43 (0.04%); 64 (0.05%), respectively (p = 0.25). Prophylactic treatment for hepatitis B, due to immunosuppressive agents was significantly higher in during-pandemic period (p = 0.001). In the laboratory follow-ups at 4th, 12th and 24th weeks of treatment, worse adherence was detected in during-pandemic (for all p &lt; 0.05). Access to treatment and compliance of all patients was over 90% and did not differ in the two periods.\nConclusions: During-pandemic, hepatitis patients' access to diagnosis, treatment initiation and follow-up had worsened in Turkey. The health policy implemented during the pandemic had a positive impact on patients' access to and compliance to treatment.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3855\/jidc.17585","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,5,9]],"date-time":"2023-05-09T19:10:48Z","timestamp":1683659448000},"page":"461-467","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on diagnosis and treatment access of patients with viral hepatitis in Turkey"],"prefix":"10.3855","volume":"17","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0282-6346","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Fatma","family":"Eser","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1029-1185","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Rahmet","family":"G\u00fcner","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Yunus","family":"G\u00fcrb\u00fcz","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Meral","family":"Akdo\u011fan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8206-913X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Zeynep","family":"Bilgi\u00e7","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Nesibe","family":"Korkmaz","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Derya","family":"Ar\u0131","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2275-5749","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Gamze","family":"\u015eanl\u0131da\u011f","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"\u015eeng\u00fcl","family":"Kesim U\u00e7ar","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6279-1018","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Tolga","family":"D\u00fczenli","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Tansu","family":"Yamazhan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"2222","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,4,30]]},"container-title":["The Journal of Infection in Developing Countries"],"original-title":[],"link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.jidc.org\/index.php\/journal\/article\/download\/17585\/3054","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/www.jidc.org\/index.php\/journal\/article\/download\/17585\/3054","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2023,5,9]],"date-time":"2023-05-09T19:10:48Z","timestamp":1683659448000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.jidc.org\/index.php\/journal\/article\/view\/17585"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2023,4,30]]},"references-count":0,"journal-issue":{"issue":"04","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,4,30]]}},"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3855\/jidc.17585","relation":{},"ISSN":["1972-2680"],"issn-type":[{"type":"electronic","value":"1972-2680"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2023,4,30]]}}}