Sustained Virological Response to Treatment of Chronic Hepatitis C in Midwest, Brazil

The purpose of the study was to present the differences in outcomes between the treatments of patients with chronic hepatitis C who attended the Hepatitis Referral Service of the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, Midwest region, Brazil, in the era of dual therapy. The medical records of 82 patients were reviewed and 92 treatments were observed in the study period. The sustained virological response (SVR) rate was 44.0% in patients treated with pegylated interferon alpha (PEG-INF) plus ribavirin (REV) and it was 58.8% in patients treated with conventional interferon alpha (INF-c) plus REV (p = 0.268). The SVR is associated with PEG-INF use (p = 0.004), viral load < 850,000 IU/mL, (p = 0.015), normal values of alanine and aspartate aminotransferases (p < 0.001), bilirubin (p = 0.002) and glucose (p = 0.031). SRV rate was reduced in patients who develop anemia (p = 0.033). The treatment generally does not favor more than 50% of chronic hepatitis C carriers and many patients did not return to the referral service after the end of treatment.