Sa1052 Thyroid Dysfunction Triggered by Peginterferon Alfa-2B / Ribavirin Treatment of Chronic HCV Genotype 1 Infection Favors Sustained Virologic Response (SVR) by Reducing

A S L D A b st ra ct s International, Cambridge, MA). From the focus groups, there were 37 items (scale: 1= not important at all: 5 = extremely important) generated to assess dimensions believed to predict treatment satisfaction (TS). A separate and global measure of TS was developed using a tenpoint scale ranging from not satisfied at all to extremely satisfied. The 37 item instrument was pre-tested in 145 patients with a diagnosis of HCV (n =136 received past treatment; n=4 receiving current treatment for HCV) who were currently under the care of gastroenterologists and primary care physicians through Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN. Subsequently, data collected through Harris Interactive, a web-based panel, were used to develop the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) model. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test the hypothesized relationships among three CFA dimensions and the global measure of TS. The panel included 333 patients with an HCV diagnosis (n=213 received past treatment; n=70 receiving current treatment for HCV). Results: Average age in the Harris Interactive panel was 51(SD = 12.1) years. Males comprised 55.0% of the sample and time since HCV diagnosis was approximately 12 (SD = 8.9) years. Principal components exploratory factor analysis (KMO = 0.97) reduced the 37-item domain to 12 items (Cronbach α = 0.95) explaining 75.0% of the variance. Cronbach α for three dimensions including Treatment Experience (TE), Side Effects (SE), and Social Aspects (SA) ranged from 0.70 to 0.90. Goodness of fit measures for the CFA measurement model (AMOS, Version 17) for 9 selected items were Chi squared = 20.9, df = 23, p = 0.59; CFI = 1.00, GFI = 0.99, TFI = 1.00, RMSEA = 0.001. All SEM estimates were significant (p < 0.05) as predictors of TE and TS and supported the relationship between the data and the hypothesized model. SE correlated positively with SA (0.85), SA was strongly and positively associated with TE (0.95). TE was positively associated with TS (0.12). Conclusion: The 10-item HCVTSAT demonstrated valid psychometric properties and was able to assess patient treatment satisfaction with HCV therapies.