Interferon-alpha plus adefovir combination therapy versus interferon-alpha monotherapy for chronic hepatitis B treatment: A meta-analysis

AimThe therapeutic effect of interferon (IFN)- plus adefovir (ADV) combination therapy versus IFN- monotherapy in chronic hepatitis B (CHB) treatment remains under debate. The objective of the present study was to compare the efficacy between these two regimens in CHB treatment. MethodsMEDLINE, EMBASE, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database, National Knowledge Infrastructure, WANFANG and VIP databases were searched until 15 April 2012. All randomized controlled trials (RCT) comparing IFN- plus ADV combination therapy versus IFN- monotherapy for treating CHB patients were included. Review Manager ver.5.1.0 was used for meta-analysis. ResultsOur results showed that the rate of undetectable serum hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA was significantly higher in the IFN- plus ADV combination group than in the IFN- monotherapy group, both at 24 weeks (relative risk [RR]=1.74, 95% confidence interval [CI]=1.47-2.05, P<0.00001) and 48 weeks (RR=1.56, 95% CI=1.35-1.80, P<0.00001) of treatment and after treatment (RR=1.35, 95% CI=1.10-1.66, P=0.004). The serum hepatitis B e-antigen (HBeAg) negativation and HBeAg seroconversion rates were also higher in the combination group. However, a greater hepatitis B surface antigen loss rate was not found in the combination group. Forty-eight weeks of combination therapy improved the alanine aminotransferase normalization rate, but did not improve the rate of undetectable HBV DNA or that of HBeAg seroconversion as compared with 24 weeks of combination therapy. ConclusionBased on the current studies, the efficacy of IFN- plus ADV combination therapy is superior to IFN- monotherapy.