Cent Eur J Public Health 2012, 20(2):150-155 | DOI: 10.21101/cejph.a3706

Efficacy of Peginterferon alfa-2a and Ribavirin Combination Therapy in Treatment-naive Estonian Patients with Chronic Hepatitis C

Vadim Brjalin1,2, Riina Salupere2, Tatjana Tallo3,4, Tatiana Kuznetsova3, Ljudmilla Priimägi3, Valentina Tefanova3
1 Department of Internal Medicine, West-Tallinn Central Hospital, Tallinn, Estonia
2 Department of Internal Medicine, University of Tartu, Estonia
3 Department of Virology, National Institute for Health Development, Tallinn, Estonia
4 Department of Preparedness, Swedish Institute for Communicable Disease Control, Stockholm, Sweden

Aim: The aim of the study was to assess the efficacy of pegylated interferon (Peg-IFN) α-2a and ribavirin (RBV) combination therapy in treatment-naive patients with chronic hepatitis C in Estonia.

Methods: Out of 121 outpatients with chronic hepatitis C (73 males, 48 females, aged 19.63) enrolled in the study, 76 were infected with HCV genotype 1b and 45 with genotype 3a. At baseline, the viral load in 75.2% of patients was higher than 600,000 IU/mL. Histologically, 88.4% of patients had fibrosis score F0.2. Patients received 180 µg of Peg-IFN α-2a weekly plus daily ribavirin 1,000 or 1,200 mg, depending on body weight, in HCV genotype 1b, or 800 mg/day in genotype 3a infection.

Results: The overall sustained virologic response (SVR) rate in our study was 60.3%, being statistically lower for patients with HCV genotype 1b as compared to patients with genotype 3a (46.1% vs. 84.4%, p<0.05). The non-response and relapse rates were significantly higher in patients infected with HCV genotype 1b compared with patients infected with genotype 3a (19.7% vs. 2.2%, p=0.01; and 17.1% vs. 4.4%, p=0.04; respectively). The SVR rate was higher in patients younger than 40 years compared with older patients (76.4% vs. 47.0%, p<0.01), regardless of the genotype. Thirteen patients infected with HCV genotype 1b required dose reduction of PegIFN and/or RBV because of adverse side effects. Nine of them achieved SVR.

Conclusion: HCV genotype and age younger than 40 years predetermined SVR rate in treatment-naive Estonian patients with chronic hepatitis C treated with Peg-IFN α-2a plus ribavirin.

Keywords: chronic hepatitis C, genotypes, pegylated interferon, ribavirin, sustained virologic response, viral load

Received: July 8, 2011; Revised: January 18, 2012; Accepted: January 18, 2012; Published: June 1, 2012  Show citation

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Brjalin V, Salupere R, Tallo T, Kuznetsova T, Priimägi L, Tefanova V. Efficacy of Peginterferon alfa-2a and Ribavirin Combination Therapy in Treatment-naive Estonian Patients with Chronic Hepatitis C. Cent Eur J Public Health. 2012;20(2):150-155. doi: 10.21101/cejph.a3706. PubMed PMID: 22966742.
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