Efficacy, tolerability and safety in the treatment of chronic hepatitis C with combination of PEG-Interferon - Ribavirin in daily practice.
BACKGROUND
Efficacy and safety of Pegylated Interferon alfa (PegIFN)-Ribavirin (RBV) for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C (CHC) in routine clinical practice seems to be comparable with results of randomized-controlled trials.


AIMS
To evaluate the efficacy, tolerability and safety of CHC treatment with PegIFN + RBV in .real world. patients in Argentina and to analyze factors associated with SVR.


METHODS
Medical records of patients treated according to current guidelines from 2001 to 2008 were reviewed.


RESULTS
235 patients were included and 80.8% completed treatment. Discontinuation occurred in 7.6% due to adverse events (AE), and 1.2% dropped-out treatment. Overall SVR was 60.8%. Multivariate analysis demonstrated that being naive (p 0.031) and low basal viral load (p 0.006) were associated with SVR, whereas F3-F4 (p 0.001) and elevated ALT (p 0.023) were associated with non-response. 80% of planned doses completed was associated with 74% SVR (p <0.001). At least one AE was reported in 93.6% of the patients: neutropenia in 27.6%, thrombocytopenia in 15.3%, anemia in 38.7%, psychiatric symptoms in 63.4%, thyroid dysfunction in 10.2%.


CONCLUSION
Efficacy, tolerability and safety of treatment of CHC in daily practice in Argentina are similar to those reported in randomized controlled trials.