Uptake of hepatitis B antiviral treatment: A panel data analysis of 31 provinces in China (2013–2020)

Background China has made substantial efforts aimed to promote the uptake of antiviral treatment of hepatitis B (HB). It is unclear whether these policies achieved the desired impact. This study adopted medicines procurement data from 31 provinces to generate the first evidence about the number of standard antiviral treatment of HB overtime at both national and provincial levels in China. Methods We performed the panel data analyses and quasi‐experimental design with the time‐varying difference‐in‐difference method combined with the event study approach to estimate the uptake of HB antiviral treatment before and after national policy changes. Results The overall trends in HB antiviral treatment at the national level increased incrementally during 2013–2020. There was 2.8862 million 12‐month (person‐year) antiviral standard treatment in 2020, which was only 8.93% of the eligible people estimated to need treatment. The number of monthly antiviral standard treatment increased by 42.4% (p = .001) overall following the nationwide adoption of the ‘4 + 7’ pilot‐pooled procurement prices in 2019, which brought substantial price reduction of core antivirals. Conclusions A low treatment rate is a critical issue in reaching the elimination of viral hepatitis as a public health threat in China. Affordability is an important but not the only factor that determines the uptake of hepatitis treatment. Further scaling up and acceleration of treatment uptake will need strategies improving public awareness of HB, strengthening diagnosis, linking people who are infected to chronic care, reducing loss to follow‐up, and ensuring people who are eligible get timely treatment.