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The incidence of spontaneous clearance of hepatic C virus (HCV) infection in the acute phase (infected <6 months) is high (estimated at 20%–40%) but is unknown in the chronic phase.
In a population-based case-control study performed in Scotland, investigators assessed spontaneous clearance incidence and its associated risk factors, using HCV testing data from 1994 to 2013. Case patients were defined as those who spontaneously resolved HCV infection and control patients as those who remained chronically infected. All patients had no prior HCV treatment and had ≥2 sequentially positive HCV RNA tests at least 6 months apart, followed by ≥2 negative tests in cases and no negative tests in controls. Four controls were randomly selected for each c…