Current treatment options and response rates in children with chronic hepatitis C

Table 2 Most frequent adverse events during polyethylene glycol-interferon treatment in combination with ribavirin and its appraisal of clinical significance

Interferon α-treatment:

Leukopenia, thrombocytopenia: Frequent, not really significant; if necessary dose reduction

Flu-like symptoms: In all treated patients, not significant

Alopecia: Not significant

Autoimmune thyroiditis: At least 15 %, significant, mostly reversible

Acute psychosis, depression: Very seldom before puberty (< 1 %), rare in adolescents, significant in cases with manifestation; should be under investigation in future trials

Growth delay: Clinically not significant, catch-up growth, but under investigation with relative high priority

Anorexia, weight loss: Mostly not significant with exceptions, normalisation after therapy stop

Ribavirin:

Anemia: Mostly clinically not significant with exceptions, reversible

Most side effects’ intensity is decreasing after some weeks of treatment.