TREATMENT OF ELDERLY PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC HEPATITIS C: A RETROSPECTIVE COHORT STUDY

摘要

The prevalence of chronic hepatitis C increases in elderly patients.lhe aims of this study were to identify the factors associated with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and end-stage liver disease development and to evaluate the efficacy and safety of pegylated interferon (PEG-IFNa) plus ribavirin (RBV) therapy in elderly patients. A retrospective cohort study included all consecutive patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection treated with PEG-IFNa+RBV between 2003 and 2013. Elderly patients had a higher frequency of poor prognostic factors including genotype 1 infection, high fibrosis, and high fibrosis index based on four factors (FIB-4) score. `The sustained virologic response (SVR) rate for genotype 1 was significantly lower (35.8% vs. 57.1%), while the frequency of PEG-IFNa (27.2% vs. 7.8%), RBV dose reduction (19.6% vs. 9.7%) and treatment discontinuation (13.0% vs. 4.1%) was significantly higher in elderly patients. However, age was not associated with SVR in multivariate analysis, and comparable SVR rates were achieved when adjusted for fibrosis score (Ishak 66.7% vs. 69.8%). During the follow-up, HCC was diagnosed in 18 elderly patients (3 SVR+, 4 SVR- and 9 untreated patients). In conclusion, selected elderly patients can achieve comparable SVR rates as younger patients, but with a higher rate of side effects. Since complications of HCV infection occur more frequently in elderly patients, they should be given priority for antiviral therapy.