Meta-analysis of factors associated with sustained viral response in patients on hemodialysis treated with standard or pegylated interferon for hepatitis C infection.
BACKGROUND
The efficacy and safety of pegylated and standard interferon (IFN) have been scrutinized in meta-analyses; however, factors associated with hepatitis C viral response in patients on hemodialysis are not well investigated.


METHODS
We evaluated factors that could be associated with sustained virological response (SVR) to pegylated or standard IFN monotherapy in patients on hemodialysis with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, by performing a systematic review of the literature with a meta-analysis of clinical trials. We used both Mantel-Haenszel and DerSimonian and Laird random effects models, with heterogeneity and sensitivity analyses.


RESULTS
Twenty-one studies on IFN-alfa2a or IFN-alfa2b (491 patients) and 12 on pegylated-IFN-alfa2a or PEG-IFN-alfa2b (279 patients) were evaluated. The pooled SVR for standard and pegylated IFN monotherapy in random effects model was 39.1% (95% confidence interval [CI], 32.1 to 46.1) and 39.3% (95% CI, 26.5 to 52.1), respectively. Pooled dropout rates were 22.6% (95% CI, 10.4 to 34.8) and 29.7% (95% CI, 21.7 to 37.7), respectively. Female gender, HCV-RNA copies per milliliter, HCV genotype, alanine transaminase pattern, duration of infection, liver fibrosis stage, and treatment duration were not associated with SVR. Only an age less than 40 years was significantly associated with SVR in both models (odds ratio, 2.17; 95% CI, 1.03 to 4.50).


CONCLUSIONS
Additional benefit of monotherapy with pegylated IFN in patients on hemodialysis with HCV infection in terms of viral response and adverse events is still unclear. According the current literature, younger age was the only determinant of SVR.
Alavian
Seyed Moayed
SM
Research Center for Gastroenterology and Liver Disease, Baqiyatollah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. alavian@thc.ir
Tabatabaei
Seyed Vahid
SV
D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans; D000077190:Interferon alpha-2; D016898:Interferon-alpha / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D011092:Polyethylene Glycols / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D006435:Renal Dialysis
D000998:Antiviral Agents; D000077190:Interferon alpha-2; D016898:Interferon-alpha; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D011092:Polyethylene Glycols; C417083:peginterferon alfa-2b; C100416:peginterferon alfa-2a