Treatment of chronic hepatitis C with interferon alone or combined with ribavirin in Japan

We treated 665 patients with chronic hepatitis C with interferon (IFN) monotherapy and 288 with combined IFN and ribavirin. At the baseline, age (53.8 +/- 11.1 vs. 49.7 +/- 10.5 years, p<0.0001) and activity (p=0.0207) as well as fibrosis (p=0.0270) were higher in patients who received combination therapy than in those receiving monotherapy. Compliance to treatment (64.2 vs. 62.1%, p<0.0001) and discontinuation were more frequent (18.1 vs. 14.5%, p<0.0001) in patients with combination therapy than in those with monotherapy. Patients with combination therapy with genotype 2 infection achieved sustained viral response (SVR) at a rate of 77.0%, regardless of viral loads, in contrast to those with genotype 1 infection, of whom only 24.4% gained SVR. Of patients with combination therapy, reduction (42.6 vs. 29.0%, p=0.0453) and discontinuation (34.0 vs. 21.6%, p=0.0414) of ribavirin were more frequently required in the 47 patients >= 65 years than in the 241 patients <65 years. Although a trend for higher SVR to combination therapy was observed in patients aged <65 than in those aged >= 65 years (39.4 vs. 25.2%), the difference was not significant (p=0.0819). In patients with genotype 1 infection, IFN monotherapy in addition to the 24-week combination therapy increased the SVR rate (18.3 vs. 42.6%, p=0.0003). A decrease in SVR was observed with an increased body mass index in patients who received combination therapy. Copyright (C) 2006 S. Karger AG, Basel.