Table 2.
Baseline clinical, virological and histological, parameters in sustained responders and non-responders in the three patient groups
| Clinical parameter | Sustained responders (n = 157) | Non-responders (n = 130) | p Value* |
| Sex (M/F) | 62/89 | 83/45 | 0.07/0.04* |
| Age (y) (mean (SD)) | 39.6 (8.1) | 45.2 (7.6) | 0.07 |
| Duration of therapy | |||
| 24 weeks | 28 | 67 | 0.03 |
| 36 weeks | 63 | 33 | |
| 48 weeks | 66 | 30 | |
| Risk factors for HCV transmission (n (%)) | |||
| Occupational | 58 (38.4) | 42 (32.8) | |
| IV drug use | 30 (19.9) | 22 (17.2) | |
| Blood transfusion | 18 (11.9) | 15 (11.7) | |
| Sexual | 7 (4.6) | 1 (0.8) | |
| Unknown | 38 (25.2) | 17 (13.3) | |
| Total bilirubin (mg/dl) | 0.9 (2.6) | 0.8 (0.4) | 0.04* |
| ALT (IU/l) | 125.3 (204.6) | 92.5 (183.4) | 0.95 |
| Viral load (×106 cop/ml) | 1.2 (0.2) | 3 (1.9) | 0.02* |
| Triphasic decay pattern | 94 (62.3) | 60 (46.9) | 0.05 |
| Efficiency factor ɛ (%) | 89.3 (4.6) | 58.2 (5.4) | 0.003 |
| Viral clearance c (/day) | 8.5 (1.9) | 10.6 (2.5) | 0.2 |
| Death rate δ (/day) | 0.71 (0.3) | 0.03 (0.01) | 0.02 |
| Mδ (/day) | 0.53 | 0.19 |
All subjects had comparable baseline clinical virological characteristics.
HCV, hepatitis C virus; ALT, alanine transaminase.
*p values were calculated by the Mann-Whitney U test for all. Statistically significant differences were considered when p values were greater than 0.05.