Differential Impact of Adherence to Pegylated Interferon and Ribavirin in the Treatment of Genotype 1 High Viral Titer Chronic Hepatitis C

• Published in: Hepatitis Research and Treatment Vol. 2010; no. 2010; pp. 114 - 119
• Main Authors: Shiraishi, Koichi, Nagata, Naruhiko, Hirose, Shunji, Kojima, Sei-ichiro, Kagawa, Tatehiro, Numata, Makoto, Watanabe, Norihito, Shiozawa, Hirokazu, Nishizaki, Yasuhiro, Motegi, Shigeyuki, Takashimizu, Shinji, Kamochi, Jun-ichiro, Wasada, Mitsuru, Ohno, Takashi, Tei, Yoshihiro, Nakano, Atsushi, Yamada, Takuji, Atsukawa, Kazuhiro, Watanabe, Tetsu, Mine, Tetsuya
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cairo, Egypt Hindawi Limiteds 01-01-2010; Hindawi Puplishing Corporation; Hindawi Publishing Corporation
• Subjects: Clinical Study
• ISSN: 2090-1364; 2090-1372
• DOI: 10.1155/2010/702748

To clarify the impact of adherence, we treated 122 genotype 1 high viral titer chronic hepatitis C patients with pegylated interferon (peg-IFN) and ribavirin for 48 weeks at nine referral hospitals, and evaluated the prognostic factors with a focus on the adherence to the treatment. This study included 68 (55.7%) treatment-naïve patients and 54 (44.3%) patients who did not respond to the previous treatment. Multivariate analysis revealed adherence to peg-IFN and ribavirin as the only significant predictor. Sustained virological response (SVR) rate was 72.2%, 19.0%, and 27.3% in patients given ≥80%, 60%–80%, and <60% dose peg-IFN, respectively, and was 68.6%, 41.2%, and 5.3% in those given ≥80%, 60%–80%, and <60% dose ribavirin, respectively. SVR rate sharply fell when exposure to peg-IFN was below 80% whereas it decreased in a stepwise manner as for ribavirin. Therefore, ≥80% of peg-IFN and as much as possible dose of ribavirin are desired to achieve SVR in the treatment of genotype 1 high viral titer chronic hepatitis C.