Short-term curative effect of ribavirin combination therapy with pegylated interferon alfa-2a vs. interferon alfa-2a in patients with chronic hepatitis C

• Published in: Zhonghua gan zang bing za zhi Vol. 22; no. 4; p. 255
• Main Authors: Wang, Meng, Zheng, Weiyang, Zhang, Hongyu, Li, Zhiqin, Jiang, Dong, Liu, Yanhong, Zhou, Rong, Li, Xiao-Gang, Zhang, Yingying, Zhang, Zhen, Wu, Shuhuan, Zhang, Yi, Li, Jiansheng
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Chinese
• Published: China 01.04.2014
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Antiviral Agents - therapeutic use; Child; Child, Preschool; Drug Therapy, Combination; Female; Hepatitis C, Chronic - drug therapy; Humans; Infant; Infant, Newborn; Interferon-alpha - therapeutic use; Male; Middle Aged; Polyethylene Glycols - therapeutic use; Recombinant Proteins - therapeutic use; Retrospective Studies; Ribavirin - therapeutic use; Treatment Outcome; Young Adult
• ISSN: 1007-3418
• DOI: 10.3760/cma.j.issn.1007-3418.2014.04.004

To perform a retrospective cohort study in order to determine the differences in short-term curative effect of ribavirin in combination with interferon alfa (IFNa)-2a vs. pegylated (Peg)-IFNa-2a in patients with chronic hepatitis C (CHC). One-hundred-and-eighty-eight treatment of the CHC patients who were administered combination therapy of ribavirin with IFNa from 2010 to 2012. One-hundred-and-thirty-three of the patients received the therapy with IFNa-2a and the remaining 55 received Peg-IFNa-2a. Hepatitis C virus (HCV) load and levels of alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) were measured at treatment weeks 4, 12, 24, and 48. Adverse reactions were recorded. Differences between the groups were assessed by statistical analysis. The patients in the Peg-IFNa-2a group and the IFNa-2a group showed no significant difference in sex distribution, age, smoking habits, or drinking habits at baseline (all P more than 0.05). Both antiviral therapies significantly reduced the HCV load and