|
Weight Loss during Pegylated Interferon and
Ribavirin Treatment of Chronic Hepatitis C
Treatment
of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection with interferon
(IFN) alfa, as monotherapy or in combination with ribavirin, is associated with significant side-effects including weight loss. The aim of the present study was to describe
the evolution of body weight during combination antiviral
treatment and to examine the possible determinants of weight
loss.
This
was a retrospective analysis of 126 patients who received
combination therapy of pegylated
IFN alfa-2b (PegIntron) and ribavirin
at our unit.
Results
Body weight was recorded at each outpatient attendance during
treatment and follow-up, and was expressed as a percentage
of baseline value.
A decline
of body weight during treatment was observed.
Median (range)
weight values at 4, 12, 24, and 48 weeks (expressed as
percentage of baseline weight) were 97.7, 95.4, 93.7, and
91.1, respectively.
There
was no significant association of increased weight loss with
age, gender, pretreatment weight, ethnicity, pretreatment histological stage, cumulative IFN dose (adjusted
for body weight), HCV
genotype
or treatment outcome.
Median body
weight returned to baseline within 6 months of stopping
treatment.
In
conclusion, the authors write, “Patients experience significant
weight loss during combination therapy. Those experiencing
greater weight losses during therapy did not benefit from
improved antiviral response.”
10/14/05
Reference
M
S Seyam and others. Weight loss
during pegylated interferon and ribavirin treatment of chronic
hepatitis C. Journal
of Viral Hepatitis
12(5): 531-535. September 2005.
|
