Diabetes mellitus reduces the therapeutic effectiveness of interferon-alpha2b plus ribavirin therapy in patients with chronic hepatitis C.
OBJECTIVE
Patients with chronic hepatitis C (CHC) often have diabetes mellitus (DM). However, it is unknown whether DM affects patient response to interferon (IFN) plus ribavirin therapy. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine the influence of DM on the outcome of IFN-alpha2b plus ribavirin therapy.


METHODS
In a cohort of 110 patients with CHC, the outcome of 6 months of IFN-alpha2b plus ribavirin therapy was evaluated by comparing the patients with and without DM.


RESULTS
There were 46 sustained-responders; 64 patients did not become sustained responders. Higher age (P = 0.015), lower platelet counts (P = 0.036), hepatitis C virus (HCV) serotype 1 (P = 0.001), advanced liver fibrosis (P = 0.004), and the presence of DM (P = 0.007) were significantly associated with not becoming a sustained-responder. Seventeen CHC (15%) patients had DM. Sex ratio, age, body mass index, alanine aminotransferase levels, HCV-RNA titer, and HCV serotypes did not significantly differ between the patients with and without DM, while fasting plasma glucose, hemoglobin A1c and liver histological staging were significantly different. On multiple logistic regression analysis, HCV serotype 1 (odds ratio 8.743, 95% confidence interval 2.215-34.517; P = 0.002) and the presence of DM (odds ratio 8.657, 95% confidence interval 1.462-51.276; P = 0.014) were independently associated with not becoming a sustained-responder.


CONCLUSIONS
The findings indicate that DM reduces the response to IFN-alpha2b plus ribavirin therapy in CHC patients.
Konishi
Ichiro
I
Department of Gastroenterology and Metabology, and Department of Basic Medical Research and Education, Ehime University Graduate School of Medicine, Shitsukawa, Toon, Japan.
Horiike
Norio
N
Hiasa
Yoichi
Y
Tokumoto
Yoshio
Y
Mashiba
Toshie
T
Michitaka
Kojiro
K
Miyake
Yasuyuki
Y
Nonaka
Suguru
S
Joukou
Kouji
K
Matsuura
Bunzo
B
Onji
Morikazu
M