title: Meta-analysis: reduction in hepatic events following interferon-alfa therapy of chronic hepatitis B.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The long-term benefit of interferon-alfa (IFN-α) treatment in preventing various hepatic complications is not certain.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To study the effects of IFN-α on reducing the risk of developing overall hepatic events (hepatocellular carcinoma, cirrhotic complications and liver-related mortality) in chronic hepatitis B patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  Randomized controlled trials, case-control studies and cohort studies were retrieved from electronic databases and conference abstracts. Relative risks (RRs) of different hepatic complications among patients treated by IFN-α vs. no treatment or placebo were studied.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Eleven studies were identified totalling 975 patients treated by IFN-α vs. 1147 untreated controls for analysis. Patients were treated by IFN-α for 1-24 months with a post-treatment follow-up of 1-13 years. Treatment by IFN-α reduced the risk of overall hepatic events (RR 0.55, 95% confident interval or CI 0.43-0.70, P < 0.001) and cirrhotic complications (RR 0.46, 95% CI 0.32-0.67, P < 0.001) by 45% and 54% respectively. Patients who responded to IFN-α had more profound reduction in overall hepatic events (RR 0.20, 95% CI 0.05-0.87, P = 0.03) and cirrhotic complications (RR 0.19, 95% CI 0.09-0.38, P < 0.001) vs. the untreated controls.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Interferon-alfa treatment reduces the risk of hepatic events particularly among responders to treatment.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Digestive Disease and Department of Medicine and Therapeutics, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong.
authors.forename: G L-H
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.forename: K K-L
authors.initials: KK
authors.lastname: Yiu
authors.forename: V W-S
authors.initials: VW
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.forename: K K-F
authors.initials: KK
authors.lastname: Tsoi
authors.forename: H L-Y
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: Chan
mesh_terms: D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D019694:Hepatitis B, Chronic / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D016898:Interferon-alpha / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000517:prevention & control*; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D016898:Interferon-alpha