Various Predictors of Sustained Virologic Response in Different Age Groups of Patients With Genotype-1 Chronic Hepatitis C

Background:Age is one of the sustained virologic response (SVR) predictors for genotype-1 chronic hepatitis C patients treated with pegylated interferon-/ribavirin. However, variation of SVR predictors in different age groups was not explored before. We therefore conducted this study for investigating this issue.Methods:We retrospectively analyzed 265 genotype-1 chronic hepatitis C patients who received pegylated interferon-/ribavirin treatment. These patients were divided into 3 age groups. Clinical parameters including the genotype of rs12979860 were analyzed.Results:SVR rate was highest in patients younger than 45 years and lowest in patients older than 65 years even through propensity score matching analysis. As for rapid virologic response (RVR) predictors, genotype of rs12979860 was the predictor for the patients younger than 45 years and patients aged between 45 and 65 years, but no RVR predictor was found for patients older than 65 years. As for the SVR predictors, HbA1c, baseline viral load, and RVR but not genotype of rs12979860 were the predictors in patients younger than 45 years. For patients between 45 and 65 years, the predictors for SVR were liver fibrosis, genotype of rs12979860, and RVR. For patients older than 65 years, RVR was the only predictor for SVR.Conclusions:SVR predictors are various in different age groups. RVR is the SVR predictor for all age groups, but the genotype of rs12979860 is the SVR predictor only for patients with age between 45 and 65 years but not younger or older patients.