Efficacy and safety of combination therapy with pegylated interferon and ribavirin in aged patients with chronic hepatitis C

Background & Aims: Combination therapy with pegylated interferon (PEGIFN) and ribavirin has significantly improved virus eradication rate in patients affected by HCV-related chronic hepatitis (C-HC). However, only few data are available with respect to efficacy and safety of this therapy in aged patients. This study aimed at investigating efficacy and tolerability of combination therapy in aged patients with CH-C. Methods: 473 patients [319 (67.4%) naive, 195 (41,2% female) with CH-C (genotype 1, n=266; genotype 2, n=112, genotype 3, n=72, genotype 4, n=23), of whom 68 (14.4%) over 65 years old (mean age 69\ub12 years), were treated with Peg-IFN (alpha-2a or alpha-2b) plus ribavirin according to international guidelines from January 2007 to July 2011. These patients were assessed for sustained viral response (SVR) rate and for all known main predictors of SVR in CH-C. Results: The overall SVR rate resulted similar in both age groups [270/405 (66.6%) in subjects