Risk factors for retinopathy associated with interferon α-2b and ribavirin combination therapy in patients with chronic hepatitis C

Table 1 Profiles and initial laboratory data of patients with and without retinopathy during IFN-ribavirin combination therapy¹

	Total	Retinopathy(+)	Retinopathy(-)
Patients
Number	73	14	59
Age (yr)	53.4 ± 10.9	56.3 ± 10.5	52.8±38.6
Gender (M/F)	47/26	10/4	37/22
Hypertension (Yes/No)a	15/58	5/8	10/49
Diabetes mellitus (Yes/No)	2/71	1/13	1/58
Peripheral blood count
Platelet count (×104/mm3)	15.3 ± 6.0	12.5 ± 10.5	15.9 ± 38.6
White blood cell (×103/mm3)	46.9 ± 12.6	46.5 ± 13.0	48.6 ± 10.9
Hemoglobin (×g/dL)	14.0 ± 1.3	14.0 ± 1.0	14.0 ± 1.4
Prothrombin time (%)	90.2 ± 13.3	87.1 ± 13.3	90.8 ± 13.3
ALT (IU/L)	109.4 ± 78.2	104.1 ± 41.0	110.4 ± 83.6
Viral factors
Genotype (type 1/type 2)2	45/26	33/24	12/2
Viral load (kcopies/mL)	592.3 ± 271.2	505.6 ± 309.1	607.5 ± 271.2
Pretreatment/ Arteriosclerotic	12/61	7/7	5/54
changes in optic fundi (Yes/No)
Response to therapy (SVR/non-SVR)	38/35	5/9	33/26

¹ Data are expressed as mean ± SD.

² Genotype could not be determined in 2 patients.

^aP = 0.004

Table 2 Logistic regression analysis of factors associated with retinopathy

Factor	P	Odds	95% confidenceinterval
		ratio
Sex	0.68	1.699	0.1-21.0
Age	0.203	1.099	1.0-1.3
Genotype	0.776	1.621	0.1-45.5
Levels of HCV RNA	0.114	1.006	0.99-1.0
Hypertension	0.004	246.32	5.5-10977.8
Diabetes mellitus	0.211	0.122	0.1-3.3
Abnormal findings in pretreatment optic fundi	0.904	1.192	0.1-20.3
Platelet	0.059	1.391	1.0-1.9
Prothrombin time	0.747	0.982	0.9-1.1
ALT	0.992	1	0.98-1.0
WBC	0.964	1.027	0.4-2.9
Response to therapy (SVR or non-SVR)	0.123	0.016	0.0-3.1

Table 3 Optic fundi findings of patients with retinopathy

No	Age	Sex	Underlyingdisease		Optic fundi beforetreatment		Optic fundi aftertreatment
			Hyper	Diabetes mellitus	H	S	Cotton wool spot	Retinal hemorrhage
			tension
1	38	M	+	+	0	0	4 wk-	4 wk-
2	52	M	+	−	1	0	4-12 wk	−
3	40	M	−	−	0	0	6-36 wk	−
4	62	F	−	−	0	0	4-36 wk	−
5	61	M	+	−	0	0	12 wk-	−
6	58	M	−	−	1	1	12 wk-	−
7	73	M	−	−	2	2	4-28 wk	−
8	65	F	+	−	0	0	24-36 wk	−
9	59	F	+	−	2	2	2 wk-	4-24 wk
10	40	M	−	−	0	0	4-20 wk	−
11	62	F	−	−	1	2	2 wk-	4 wk-
12	65	M	−	−	1	1	2-24 wk	−
13	40	M	−	−	0	0	−	8-16 wk
14	40	M	−	−	0	0	−	2-4 wk