title: Efficacy of interferon therapy in elderly patients with chronic hepatitis C.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We assessed the efficacy and safety of interferon (IFN) monotherapy in 84 elderly patients aged > or =65 years with chronic hepatitis C in a retrospective cohort study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty-two of the 84 elderly patients were treated with IFN at a dose of 6 million units daily for 6-8 weeks, 18 patients were treated 2-3 times a week for 24 weeks and 44 patients were treated daily for 2-8 weeks and 2-3 times a week for 16-24 weeks.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A sustained virological response (SVR) occurred in 35.7% (30/84) of the patients by intention-to-treat analysis. Multivariate analysis showed that patients achieved a significant SVR when: (1) serum HCV-RNA level before IFN therapy was <100 KIU/ml (p < 0.0001) and (2) staging of liver fibrosis was mild (p = 0.040). Eleven (13.1%) patients discontinued the IFN regimen due to adverse events. Regarding factors predicting discontinuation of IFN, univariate analysis showed that patients aged >70 years were prone to drop out of therapy due to adverse events in IFN therapy (p = 0.009).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results suggest that IFN administration is suitable for 65- to 70-year-old patients with chronic hepatitis C without genotype 1b and high virus load.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, and Hepatic Research Unit, Toranomon Hospital, Tokyo, Japan. rikako@pm.highway.ne.jp
authors.forename: Rikako
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Koyama
authors.forename: Yasuji
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Arase
authors.forename: Kenji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ikeda
authors.forename: Fumitaka
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.forename: Yoshiyuki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.forename: Satoshi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Saitoh
authors.forename: Masahiro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kobayashi
authors.forename: Norio
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Akuta
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Someya
authors.forename: Tetsuya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hosaka
authors.forename: Hitomi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sezaki
authors.forename: Mariko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kobayashi
authors.forename: Hiromitsu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kumada
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000235:genetics; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000821:virology; D006801:Humans; D007372:Interferons / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008297:Male; D010352:Patient Dropouts; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D019562:Viral Load
chemical_list: D000998:Antiviral Agents; D007372:Interferons