Key messages

• Summary points

• The natural course of chronic hepatitis C is not fully defined

• A range of disease exists—from mild asymptomatic infection with few consequences to serious disease with dire sequelae

• Pretreatment assessments of viral load and genotype or serotype may help in predicting response

• It is difficult to indicate the prognosis for younger patients with mild disease; they may need to be considered for treatment, so that the opportunity to avoid later disease is not forfeited

• It is not yet clear whether patients who are more responsive to interferon have a better prognosis