Factors associated with early virological response to peginterferon-α-2a/ribavirin in chronic hepatitis C

Table 3 Sociodemographics, clinical and pathological characteristics of patients with early virological response and non-early virological response by bivariate analysis n (%)

Factors	EVR	Non-EVR	P value1
Patient sociodemographics
Age (yr), mean ± SD	43.9 ± 9.7	47.0 ± 10.0	< 0.005
Sex
Male	602 (86)	101 (14)	NS
Female	264 (89)	33 (11)
Origin
Developed country	64 (93)	5 (7)	NS
Developing country	801 (86)	129 (14)
Race
Caucasian	836 (87)	130 (14)	NS
Other	24 (89)	3 (11)
Educational level
Equivalent to or less than high	537 (86)	85 (14)	NS
Professional training	209 (87)	31 (13)
University or higher	119 (88)	17 (13)
Marital status
Single	235 (85)	41 (15)	NS
Married	491 (86)	81 (14)
Separated/divorced/widowed	135 (92)	12 (8)
Family status
Lives alone	82 (85)	15 (16)	NS
Lives with another person	769 (87)	117 (13)
Clinical characteristics
Weight (kg), mean ± SD	75.6 ± 13.4	77.2 ± 13.5	NS
Alcohol consumption
No	731 (86)	115 (14)	NS
Yes	133 (88)	19 (13)
Tobacco consumption
No	414 (85)	75 (15)	NS
Yes	450 (88)	59 (12)
Source of HCV infection
Injection drug use	221 (90)	26 (11)	NS
Transfusion	126 (89)	16 (11)
IV route	79 (87)	12 (13)
Other	435 (85)	78 (15)
Methadone replacement therapy
No	803 (86)	126 (14)	NS
Yes	57 (89)	7 (11)
ALT (IU/mL), mean ± SD	86.3 ± 69.4	101.7 ± 71.5	< 0.05
AST (IU/mL), mean ± SD	72.1 ± 65.3	84.8 ± 58.5	< 0.05
GGT (IU/mL), mean ± SD	73.6 ± 85.2	134.0 ± 114.4	< 0.001
Ferritin (μg/L), mean ± SD	248.0 ± 268.8	388.8 ± 357.3	< 0.001
Cirrhosis
No	817 (88)	112 (12)	< 0.001
Yes	41 (67)	20 (33)
HCV genotype
1/4	645 (84)	126 (16)	< 0.001
2/3	214 (96)	8 (4)
HCV-RNA (IU/mL), mean ± SD	3 354 135.6 ± 5 978 359.9	3 781 940.0 ± 4 780 000.6	NS
Baseline viral load
< 400 000 IU/mL	237 (91)	25 (10)	< 0.05
≥ 400 000 IU/mL	623 (85)	109 (15)

Data are presented as number (percentage) of patients unless otherwise indicated. Proportions of patients are presented as valid percentages. Values for age, weight, and alanine aminotransferase/aspartate aminotransferase (ALT/AST), gamma glutamyl transferase (GGT) and ferritin are expressed as mean ± SD.

¹P value of bivariate analysis. EVR: early virological response; HCV-RNA: Hepatitis C virus ribonucleic acid; IV route: Intravenous route; NS: Not significant.