Significance of a reduction in HCV RNA levels at 4 and 12 weeks in patients infected with HCV genotype 1b for the prediction of the outcome of combination therapy with peginterferon and ribavirin

Table 2 Univariate and multivariate analyses for sustained virologic response to the combination therapy with peginterferon and ribavirin in patients who underwent response guided therapy according to the AASLD guidelines

	Univariate analysis	Multivariate analysis*	Odds ratio (95% confidence interval)
Age (years)	< 0.001	N.S.
Sex (male/female)	0.005	N.S.
BMI, median (range)	N.S.
Prior treatment for HCV (no/yes)	N.S.
Pretreatment HCV RNA levels (log₁₀ IU/mL), (≤6.0 vs. 6.0<)	0.015	0.013	2.235 (1.189-4.203)
Platelet count (×10³/μL)	< 0.001	0.011	1.007 (1.002-1.013)
Hemoglobin (g/dL)	0.002	N.S.
Neutrophil count (/μL)	0.003	N.S.
Alanine aminotransferase (IU/L)	N.S.
Total-cholesterol (mg/dL)	0.001	N.S.
γ-glutamyl transpeptidase (IU/L)	0.014	N.S.
Fibrosis score (F1 or F2/F3 or F4)	< 0.001	N.S.
Activity score (A1 or A2/A3 or A4)	0.002	N.S.
Genetic polymorphisms of rs8099917 (TT/GG or TG)	< 0.001	< 0.001	5.782 (2.298-14.552)
Amino acid at residue 70 of HCV core (arginine/glutamine or histidine)	< 0.001	N.S.
Amino acid sequence of ISDR (non-wild-type/wild-type)	< 0.001	0.038	2.077 (1.041-4.147)
Reduction of HCV RNA [Pre - 4 week] (log₁₀ IU/mL), (≤2.8 vs. 2.8<)	< 0.001	< 0.001	3.911 (1.935-7.908)
Reduction of HCV RNA [Pre - 12 week] (log₁₀ IU/mL), (≤4.9 vs. 4.9<)	< 0.001	0.013	2.578 (1.220-5.448)

*Multivariate analysis was performed on 314 patients in whom all variables were available.
(N = 516).

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