Chronic hepatitis C: Treat or wait? Medical decision making in clinical practice

Table 2 Treatment and sustained virological response rates in various subgroups

				Fischer’s exact test, two-sides P value
	Treatment rate %	SVR %	Number	Treatment rate	SVR
Total	45.3	49.6	13 999
Genotypes 1/4/5/6	41.4	42.7	9114	< 0.0001	< 0.0001
Genotypes 2/3	52.7	59.8	4885
Clinical setting	63.9	49.8	1298	< 0.0001	NS
Private practice	43.4	49.6	12 701
Male	47.2	47.9	8214	< 0.0001	< 0.01
Female	42.6	52.3	5785
Age ≤ 56 yr	49	51.3	11 497	< 0.0001	< 0.0001
Age > 56 yr	28.2	36.7	2502
BMI ≤ 23 (kg/m2)	44.3	51.8	4762	< 0.01	< 0.05
BMI > 23 (kg/m2)	46.9	48.6	8846
No employment	38.9	47.3	8113	< 0.0001	< 0.001
Regular employment	54.1	52	5886
Bad German language skills	47	52.5	824	NS	NS
Good German language skills	45.8	47.8	7565
Migrants	53.3	52.6	2663	< 0.0001	< 0.0001
German natives	41.7	45.4	5465
Infection length ≤ 12.5 yr	62.8	51.6	3639	< 0.0001	< 0.01
Infection length > 12.5 yr	37.2	48	3165
Ultrasound not performed	30.7	47.5	2568	< 0.0001	NS
Ultrasound performed	48.6	50	11 431
Liver biopsy not performed	39.9	50.1	11 100	< 0.0001	NS
Liver biopsy performed	66.1	48.5	2899
Fibrosis scores F0-1	60.9	52.4	1766	< 0.0001	< 0.01
Fibrosis scores F2-4	74.6	44.1	1017
Clinical symptoms absent	42.2	47.8	4430	< 0.0001	NS
Clinical symptoms present	46.7	50.4	9569
No concomitant disease	55.7	51.8	6527	< 0.0001	< 0.0001
At least one concomitant disease	36.2	46.8	7472
Psychiatric disease absent	46.9	49.8	12 281	< 0.0001	NS
Psychiatric disease present	34.1	48.4	864
Active drug or alcohol abuse absent	49.9	49.7	10 960	< 0.0001	NS
Active drug or alcohol abuse present	28.7	49.4	3039
HIV co-infection absent	46.1	50	13 254	< 0.0001	< 0.01
HIV co-infection present	31.4	39.3	745
Good quality-of-life	43.8	49.5	11 348	< 0.0001	NS
Reduced quality-of-life	51.8	50.1	2651
ALT normal (< 50 U/L for men, < 30 U/L for women)	34.8	50.8	3297	< 0.0001	NS
ALT elevated (U/L)	49.6	49.7	10 105
Thrombocytes ≥ 142 500 /μL	48	51.6	11 284	< 0.0001	< 0.0001
Thrombocytes < 142 500 /μL	38.9	36.2	1816
HCV-RNA ≤ 520 000 IU/mL	45.4	54.8	6810	< 0.0001	< 0.0001
HCV-RNA > 520 000 IU/mL	49.7	43.3	5904
No concomitant disease	55.7	51.8	6527	< 0.0001	< 0.0001
At least one concomitant disease	36.2	46.8	7472
HIV co-infection absent	46.1	50	13 254	< 0.0001	< 0.01
HIV co-infection present	31.4	39.3	745

SVR: Sustained virological response; BMI: Body mass index; HIV: Human immunodeficiency virus; ALT: Alanine aminotransferase; HCV: Hepatitis C virus; NS: Not significant.