title: Differential impact of adherence to pegylated interferon and ribavirin in the treatment of genotype 1 high viral titer chronic hepatitis C.
abstract: To clarify the impact of adherence, we treated 122 genotype 1 high viral titer chronic hepatitis C patients with pegylated interferon (peg-IFN) and ribavirin for 48 weeks at nine referral hospitals, and evaluated the prognostic factors with a focus on the adherence to the treatment. This study included 68 (55.7%) treatment-naïve patients and 54 (44.3%) patients who did not respond to the previous treatment. Multivariate analysis revealed adherence to peg-IFN and ribavirin as the only significant predictor. Sustained virological response (SVR) rate was 72.2%, 19.0%, and 27.3% in patients given ≥80%, 60%-80%, and <60% dose peg-IFN, respectively, and was 68.6%, 41.2%, and 5.3% in those given ≥80%, 60%-80%, and <60% dose ribavirin, respectively. SVR rate sharply fell when exposure to peg-IFN was below 80% whereas it decreased in a stepwise manner as for ribavirin. Therefore, ≥80% of peg-IFN and as much as possible dose of ribavirin are desired to achieve SVR in the treatment of genotype 1 high viral titer chronic hepatitis C.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, Tokai University School of Medicine, Isehara 259-1193, Japan.
authors.forename: Makoto
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authors.lastname: Numata
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authors.lastname: Atsukawa
authors.forename: Tetsu
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authors.lastname: Watanabe
authors.forename: Tetsuya
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authors.lastname: Mine