Objective To evaluate the effectiveness and safety of different doses of interferon alfa (INF-α) in the treatment of chronic hepatitis C (CHC). Methods Such databases as MEDLINE, EMbase, CENTRAL, CBM, CNKI, VIP and WanFang Data were searched to collect the randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on different doses of INF-α in the treatment of CHC published before August, 2012. According to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data and evaluated the quality of the included studies, and then meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.0 software. Results A total of 13 RCTs involving 1 442 patients were included. The results of meta-analysis on different doses of INF-α showed that, a) There was no significant difference in the complete response rate between the 3 MU dose group and the 1 MU dose group (RR=0.83, 95%CI 0.52 to 1.32, P=0.43), but there was significant difference in the sustained response rate between those 2 groups (RR=1.89, 95%CI 1.00 to 3.59, P=0.05); and b) No significant differences were found in the complete response rate among the 3 MU dose group, the 6 MU dose group, and the 1 MU dose group. Conclusion INF-α in dose of 3 MU, 3 times daily, is effective in treating CHC, but it would not rule out that higher dose takes more effective action. When INF-α is used to treat CHC, an individualized medication should be applied according to patients’ tolerance and economic status.
ObjectiveTo evaluate the effect of autoantibody on the efficacy and safety of pegylated interferonα-2a (Peg-IFNα-2a) and ribavirin on chronic hepatitis C (HCV). MethodsWe enrolled 106 chronic HCV infected patients, who were divided into autoantibody-positive group and negative group based on the baseline autoantibody detection. The patients were treated for 48 weeks. The anti-viral response and adverse effects were observed. Data analyses were reported using the SPSS 20.0 statistical package. ResultsThe prevalence of any autoantibody in chronic hepatitis C patients amounted to 31.1%, and serum anti-nuclear antibody was positive in 24 patients. Difference in age, sex, serum alanine transaminase level, aspartate transaminase level, total bilirubin level, thyroid function and HCV RNA level between autoantibody-positive group and negative group was not significant (P > 0.05). The level of hemoglobin in autoantibody-positive group was significantly lower than the negative group (P=0.018). Of the 106 patients, 82 patients achieved sustained virological response (SVR), 56 achieved rapid virological response (RVR), 98 achieved ealy virological response (EVR) and 8 were non-responders. There were no significant differences between RVR, EVR and SVR in autoantibody-positive group and negative group (P > 0.05). The most common adverse effects in this study were fatigue, weight loss, hair loss and fever, and no significant differences in adverse effects were observed between the two groups (P > 0.05). ConclusionAutoantibody positivity may not affect the treatment response and is safe in chronic HCV infected patients with combination therapy of pegylated interferonα-2a plus ribavirin.
Objectives To determine the health benefit of elbasvir/grazoprevir versus peginterferon combing with ribavirin (PR regimen) for Chinese chronic hepatitis C patients with genotype 1b infection. Methods Markov cohort state-transition models were constructed to conduct cost utility analysis. Sensitivity analyses were performed based on base-case analysis. Results Elbasvir/grazoprevir was dominant versus PR, resulting in higher QALYs and lower costs for both noncirrhotic patients (13.867 5 QALYs, 82 090.82 RMB vs. 12.696 2 QALYs, 122 791.55 RMB) and cirrhotic patients (12.841 6 QALYs, 225 807.70 RMB vs. 8.892 4 QALYs, 326 545.01 RMB). Elbasvir/grazoprevir was economically dominant in nearly 100% among all patients within the range of threshold from 0 to 161 805 RMB/QALY. Conclusions Elbasvir/grazoprevir was dominant in treatment of genotype 1b chronic hepatitis C infection in China.