Evaluated outcomes in patients with chronic hepatitis C

Aim: The objective of this study was to evaluate the real outcomes of chronic hepatitis C patients, who were treated with interferon plus ribavirin (INF-RBV) and peg-interferon plus ribavirin (PEG-RBV). Background: Despite the PEG-RBV has become a standard treatment of hepatitis C virus (HCV) around the world; and in Iran too, but in developing countries like Iran, INF-RBV is still used among some patients for treating HCV, due to the high costs of treatment with PEG-RBV. Patients and methods: The present cross-sectional study was conducted on 77 naïve patients referred to a private gastroenterology clinic between years 2007 through 2009 in Tehran. Patients had participated in this study taking two types of combination therapies, based on standard protocol of the Iranian Ministry of Health. At the end of the treatment, sustain virological response (SVR) rate was evaluated. Results: The outcomes showed in INF-RBV treatment is 11.6%, 16.3% and 34.9% in patients who suffered from relapse, lost follow-up for treatment and non-responder, respectively, and finally 37.2% of the patients reached SVR. In PEG-RBV, treatment outcomes were as follows; 2.9%, 14.7% and 14.7% patients were non-responders, lost follow-up for treatment and suffered from a relapse, respectively, and 67.6% of the patients reached SVR. The multivariateadjusted odds ratios of outcomes showed that treatment with PEG-RIB and also genotype 3a than the other genotypes in this treatment had more chance to achieve SVR. Conclusion: The findings of the present study showed the rate of SVR in patients who treated with PEG-RBV significantly was higher than patients who were treated with INF-RBV. Also in PEG-RBV the chance of achieving SVR is higher among the patients with genotype 3a than among those with other genotypes. © 2013 RIGLD.