Predictors of treatment response in patients with hepatitis C 1b genotype

The aim of the study was to analyse the predictive host and viral factors of sustained virological response (SVR) in Estonian patients with chronic hepatitis C genotype 1b. A total of 76 outpatients (44 males and 32 females, aged 21-63 years) were enrolled in the single-centre prospective study. The patients received 180 A mu g of Peg-IFN alpha-2 alpha weekly plus daily weight-based ribavirin (1000-1200 mg/day). The SVR was achieved in 50% of the patients, 43.4% of the patients were referred to as non-SVR. The SVR and the non-SVR patients differed significantly in terms of age (p=0.012), stage of fibrosis (p=0.012), grade of inflammatory activity (p=0.002), platelet count (p=0.005), gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT) level (p=0.028), as well as a decrease of the viral load at weeks 4 and 12 more than 3.59 log10 IU/ml and 5.98 log(10) IU/ml (P < 0.01), respectively. Age below 40 years, absence of or mild and moderate fibrosis, absence of severe inflammation activity, normal platelet count and normal GGT level, and pronounced changes in viral kinetics at weeks 4 and 12, were valuable predictors of better response to peginterferon alfa plus ribavirin treatment in Estonian patients with chronic hepatitis C genotype 1b.