TY - JOUR
TI - A randomized trial to assess the efficacy of interferon-alpha daily in
combination with ribavirin in the treatment of naive patients with
chronic hepatitis C
AU - Tassopoulos, NC
AU - Ketikoglou, I
AU - Tsantoulas, D
AU - Raptopoulou, M
AU - and Hatzis, G
AU - Vafiadis, I
AU - Sidiropoulos, L
AU - Kanatakis, S and
AU - Anagnostopoulos, G
AU - Sypsa, V
AU - Hatzakis, A
AU - Hellenic Viral
AU - Hepatitis Res Netwo
JO - Journal of Viral Hepatitis
PY - 2003
VL - 10
TODO - 5
SP - 383-389
PB - Wiley
SN - 1352-0504, 1365-2893
TODO - 10.1046/j.1365-2893.2003.00439.x
TODO - chronic hepatitis C; daily interferon; interferon alpha; randomized
clinical trial; ribavirin
TODO - A randomized trial was conducted to assess the efficacy of
interferon-alpha (IFN) daily in combination with ribavirin in 301 naive
patients with chronic hepatitis C (CHC). Patients were randomized to
receive ribavirin 1.2 g daily (QD) for 48 weeks with either IFN 5 MU (
thrice weekly) TIW for 8 weeks followed by IFN 3 MU TIW for 40 weeks (
IFN TIW, n = 154) or IFN 5 MU QD for 8 weeks followed by IFN 3 MU QD for
16 weeks followed by IFN 3 MU TIW for 24 weeks ( IFN QD, n = 147).
Treatment discontinuation rates, because of adverse events, were similar
in the two arms (14.9% in IFN TIW and 14.3% in IFN QD, P = 0.87). The
proportion of patients with sustained virological response (SVR) was
27.9% for patients treated TIW and 38.8% for those treated QD (P =
0.046). According to logistic regression analysis, patients in the IFN
QD arm had 1.7 times higher probability of achieving SVR, than those
receiving IFN TIW (P = 0.038). Low baseline viral load (P = 0.017) and
genotype non-1 (P = 0.036) were associated with higher SVR rates.
Combination of IFN/ribavirin for 48 weeks is more effective when IFN is
administered daily for the first 24 weeks in naive patients with CHC.
ER -