Background: Patients with mild hepatitis C have a significant risk of disease progression at medium- and long-term follow-up and should be considered for antiviral therapy.
Aim: To evaluate the rate of sustained viral response (SVR) and predictive factors of SVR in HCV genotype 1 patients with mild hepatitis C (fibrosis stage F0/F1) treated with combination antiviral therapy.
Methods: 260 naïve patients were followed-up during 72 weeks in three referral hepatology centers between 2004 and 2006. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis was conducted.
Results: Early virological response was 88.1% and SVR was 74.2%. In the univariate analysis, SVR was associated with young age (p=0.001), very low (< or = 400,000 IU/mL) baseline viremia (p=0.03) and high aminotransferase levels (p=0.04) and was not associated with gender, body mass index, inflammatory activity, steatosis, ribavirin and peginterferon dose changes, premature cessation of therapy. Multivariate analysis identified the following independent predictors of SVR: age <50 years (p=0.0009), viral load < or = 400,000 IU/mL (p=0.03) and aminotransferase level >2 times normal value (p=0.02).
Conclusions: Genotype 1 HCV patients with mild hepatitis have a high rate of SVR, similar to genotype non-1. Young age, very low viremia and significant hepatocytolisis are independent predictors of SVR in patients with mild hepatitis.