Hepatitis C Virus Infection and Hospital-Related Outcomes: A Systematic Review

Table 1

Population, exposure, outcomes, and study design criteria (PEOS) for study inclusion.

Criteria	Definition/description
Population	≥18-year-old adults at baseline
Exposure	Acute or chronic HCV infection; direct-acting antivirals
Outcomes	Hospital-related outcomes (hospitalization, length of stay, leaving hospital against medical advice, readmission, and in-hospital mortality)
Design	Original quantitative research studies (including observational studies and randomized controlled trials)^†

†Commentaries, letters to the editors, editorials, and other types of opinion pieces were excluded. Literature reviews were excluded, but back referencing was conducted to ensure that all relevant studies from the literature review were included.