| ORIGINAL ARTICLE |
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| Year : 2016 | Volume
: 19
| Issue : 1 | Page : 133-139 |
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Virologic responses and tolerance of peginterferon alfa plus ribavirin treatment for patients with chronic hepatitis C virus infection in different age categories
Z Yang, Y Lu, Q Xu, X Chen
Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center, Fudan University, Shanghai 201508, China
Correspondence Address:
X Chen
Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center, Fudan University, No. 2901, Caolang Road, Jinshan District, Shanghai 201508
China
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
DOI: 10.4103/1119-3077.173708
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Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the effect of age on the treatment comprising peginterferon plus ribavirin administered to patients with chronic hepatitis C (CHC).
Materials and Methods: A total of 314 patients with CHC treated with peginterferon plus ribavirin were classified into three categories according to age. The efficacy and safety outcomes were compared between groups.
Results: Elderly patients yielded significantly lower rapid virological response and sustained virological response (SVR) (31.3% and 35.4%, respectively, P < 0.05) rates than younger patients. The discontinuation rate of the patients aged ≥ 60 years were significantly higher (29.2%, P = 0.004) than that of the younger patients. The elderly patients suffered from adverse events, such as fatigue (P = 0.005), neutropenia (P = 0.013), jaundice (P = 0.013), hepatocellular carcinoma (P = 0.013), and gastric cancer (P = 0.018), more frequently than the younger patients. In multivariable analysis, age was a negative factor that affected the SVR of the patients with CHC (odds ratio [OR] =0.983, 95% confidence interval [95% CI] =0.967–1.0, P = 0.05). The SVR rate of the patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype non-1 was significantly higher than that of the patients with HCV-1 (OR = 0.559, 95% CI = 0.349–0.895, P = 0.015). An early virological response could be considered as a powerful positive predictor to obtain an SVR (OR = 2.353, 95% CI = 1.411–3.922, P = 0.001).
Conclusions: Increasing age negatively affected the efficacy of peginterferon and ribavirin therapy in the treatment of patients with CHC. Elderly patients experienced poorer treatment tolerance and adherence, and as a result, treatment efficacy is poor. |
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