ABSTRACT
Objective: To determine the association of obesity with rapid virological response in patients with chronic hepatitis C on antiviral therapy
Methodology: In this prospective cohort study patients suffering from chronic hepatitis C who required treatment were included after getting ethical approval and informed consent. Patient's weight and height was measured and body mass index [BMI] was calculated. Patients were divided into 2 groups; group 1 having BMI <30 and group 2 having BMI >30 in equal numbers. All the patients were put on weekly pegylated interferon plus ribavirin in fixed divided doses. PCR was done at the completion of 4 week to check for rapid virological response [RVR]. After completion of study these 2 groups were compared to see whether any significant association exists between BMI and RVR. RVR was also stratified among age, viral load and gender to see their effect as these are potential effect modifiers
Results: There were 140 [56.3 %] male and 110 [43.7%] female patients with male to female ratio of 1.2:1. Mean age of the patients was 39.78 +/-9.85, while mean BMI was 27.40 +/-5.86. Overall the RVR was achieved in 53.2% of the patients. Frequency of RVR was 77[61.6 %] in non-obese patients as compared to 56[44.8%] in obese patients with a p value of 0.008
Conclusion: Obesity is significantly associated with poor RVR in patients with chronic hepatitis C
ABSTRACT
To study the association between baseline parameters and end of treatment response [ETR] to conventional interferon treatment in patients with chronic hepatitis C. This retrospective analytical study was conducted in Gastroenterology department of Lady Reading Hospital Peshawar from January 2012 to June 2012. A total of 222 patients with chronic hepatitis C, on combination of conventional interferon and ribavirin therapy were included in the study who reported with ETR. Various baseline parameters included sex [male vs. female], age [< 40years vs. >40years], weight [<70kg vs. >70kg], viral load [<800000IU/ml vs. >800000IU/ml] and ALT quotient [<3 vs. >3]. These variables were compared with ETR to see for any significant association. Two hundred and twenty two patients were included in the study out of which 94[42.3%] were male and 128[57.7%] were females. 121[54.5%] of the patient achieved ETR while 101[45.5%] failed to achieve ETR. Among various variables tested weight <70kg [59% vs. 43%] and ALT Quotient >3 [70% vs.50%] were significantly associated with ETR with a p value of 0.01 and p value of 0.013 respectively while there was no statistically significant association between other parameters and ETR. High baseline ALT and baseline low body weight are significantly associated with better ETR. Among these weight is a modifiable factor and obese patients should be advised to lose weight before embarking them on anti viral therapy in order to improve their chances of viral clearance