The prognostic factors of sustained virologic response among patients of chronic hepatitis C treated with peg-interferon alpha 2a monotherapy

Abstract

A combination of peginterferon plus ribavirin is recommended therapy for patients with chronic hepatitis C. However, this treatment may influence the occurrence of adverse events induced by ribavirin including anemia or birth defects. This study aimed to reveal the outcome and prognostic factors of peginterferon alpha-2a (PEG-IFN) monotherapy in patients with chronic hepatitis C in Japan. The study included eighty-four patients who were treated with PEG-IFN monotherapy. Fifty-six patients (66.7%) achieved sustained virological response (SVR) in the ITT analysis. When comparing SVR and non-SVR groups, SVR predictable parameters included treatment at a younger age (p=0.0464) and early staging of fibrosis (p=0.0002). In addition, the most predictable parameter of SVR was serum HCV RNA levels undetectable within 4 weeks after the beginning of the treatment in the multivariate analysis (OR:17.2, 95%CI:4.38-84.5, p=0.0001). We suggested that PEG-IFN monotherapy is beneficial for patients who are younger, have mild fibrosis, and lower HCV RNA levels before treatment (<400 KIU/ml in serotype 1, <500 KIU/ml in serotype 2), and who achieve serum HCV RNA undetectable within 4 weeks from beginning the PEG-IFN monotherapy.