Platelet count and sustained virological response in hepatitis C treatment

Table 1 Clinical characteristics of chronic hepatitis C patients treated with pegylated interferon alpha-2a plus ribavirin in the present study

	Previous treatment		P value1
	(-)	(+)
Number of patients	127	69
Age (yr)	56.1± 10.7	59.0 ± 10.1	0.064
Gender (male/female)	62/65	34/35	NS
Body mass index (kg/m2)	23.4 ± 3.2	23.3 ± 3.9	NS
LDL cholesterol (mg/dL)	107 ± 52.3	102 ± 31.5	NS
ALT (IU/L)	72.0 ± 53.7	66.4 ± 48.5	NS
Gamma-glutamyl transferase (IU/L)	55.6 ± 74.8	67.0 ± 77.2	NS
Alpha-fetoprotein (ng/mL)	12.7 ± 30.0	25.9 ± 79.5	NS
HCV RNA (log IU/mL)	6.5 ± 0.7	6.4 ± 0.7	NS
White blood cells (/mL)	5213 ± 1519	4619 ± 1273	0.006
Neutrophils (/mL)	2752 ± 924	2474 ± 981	0.058
Hemoglobin (g/dL)	14.0 ± 1.4	13.7 ± 1.6	NS
Platelets (× 104/mL)	16.5 ± 5.0	15.6 ± 5.2	NS
RVR (+/-)	18/109	7/62	NS
EVR (+/-)	66/61	24/45	0.021

Values are expressed as mean ± SD.

¹P value indicates those between two groups with and without pretreatment by Student’s t test or χ² test. NS: Not significant; LDL: Low-density lipoprotein; ALT: Alanine aminotransferase; HCV: Hepatitis C virus; RVR: Rapid virological response; EVR: Early virological response.