title: Anemia as a predictor of response to antiviral therapy in chronic hepatitis C.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The standard therapy for chronic HCV infection is the administration of pegylated interferons in combination with ribavirin. Anemia is a dose-dependent side-effect of ribavirin administration. The degree of anemia could be indicative of the individual exposure to ribavirin.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  1) To evaluate the correlation of HGB level decreases at specified time-points with a sustained virological response during the antiviral treatment. 2) To compare these parameters with the virological predictors for responses.
  
  
  METHODS
  A retrospective analysis of cohort, which comprised 164 patients treated with standard therapy at a tertiary center in Prague, Czech Republic.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We identified several predictive factors for a sustained virological response in females: baseline HGB level ≤140 g/l (p=0.025), maximum drop from baseline >40 g (p=0.039), and a HGB drop in week 4 >30 g (p=0.044). There was only one predictor identified for males: reaching the lowest HGB level after week 19 (p=0.021). The strongest positive predictor of response was a rapid virological response. A low viral load (<600 000 IU/ml) at baseline was not associated with a sustained response in either gender.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The parameters of HGB decrease during antiviral treatment are better correlated with a sustained response in females. None of these response predicting parameters was as significant as that of rapid virological response as that of rapid virological response (Tab. 4, Fig. 1, Ref. 15).
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine 1st Medical Faculty Charles University and Centrla Military Hospital Prague, Czech Republic. urbanpet@uvn.cz
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Urbanek
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kreidlova
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Dusek
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bruha
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Marecek
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Petrtyl
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000740:Anemia / Q000150:complications*; D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D005260:Female; D006454:Hemoglobins / Q000032:analysis; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000097:blood* / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000821:virology; D006801:Humans; D000077190:Interferon alpha-2; D016898:Interferon-alpha / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008297:Male; D011092:Polyethylene Glycols / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000627:therapeutic use; D012254:Ribavirin / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D000998:Antiviral Agents; D006454:Hemoglobins; D000077190:Interferon alpha-2; D016898:Interferon-alpha; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D011092:Polyethylene Glycols; D012254:Ribavirin; C417083:peginterferon alfa-2b