Alanine aminotransferase normalization at week 8 predicts viral response during hepatitis C treatment

Table 1 Comparison of baseline characteristics and virological responses in patients with and without rapid virological response n (%)

	Patients with RVR	Patients without RVR	P1value
	(Group 1,n= 52)	(Group 2,n= 99)
Age (yr)	55.9 ± 12.2	57.9 ± 11.1	0.312
Male	24 (46.2)	51 (51.5)	0.534
Initial ALT (IU/L)	87.3 ± 109.8	52.2 ± 40.4	0.005
Initial abnormal ALT level	33 (63.5)	49 (49.5)	0.103
Initial HCV RNA (log10 IU/ mL)	5.4 ± 1.1	6.1 ± 0.8	0.000
cEVR	52 (100)	58 (59)	0.000
ETR	48 (92)	56 (57)	0.000
SVR	43 (83)	40 (40)	0.000
ISHAK score, mean ± SD
Biopsy of receipt	31 (59.6)	63 (63.6)	0.631
HAI	8.9 ± 3.8	8.2 ± 2.8	0.356
Fibrosis score	2.9 ± 1.3	2.7 ± 1.4	0.681

¹Student’s t test. RVR: Rapid virological response; ALT: Alanine aminotransferase; HCV: Hepatitis C virus; EVR: Early virological response; ETR: End of treatment response; SVR: Sustained virological response; HAI: Histological activity index.