Table 1. Baseline Characteristics of the patients With Chronic Hepatitis C enrolled in the Study.
| Intravenous Drug Users (n = 106) | No History of Drug Abuse (n = 239) | P value | |
| Demographic characteristics, No. (%) | |||
| Male | 86 (81.13) | 125 (52.30) | 0.0001b |
| Female | 20 (18.87) | 114 (47.70) | |
| ge, y, mean ± SD a | 32.46 ± 5.33 | 46.12 ± 11.48 | 0.0001c |
| Weight, kg, mean ± SD | 78.94 ± 15.02 | 73.57 ± 14.27 | 0.0129c |
| Genotype, No. (%) | |||
| Total d | 59 (55.66) | 188 (78.66) | 0.0001b |
| Subtype 1a | 26 (24.52) | 15 (6.27) | 0.0001b |
| Subtype 1b | 20 (18.87) | 129 (53.97) | 0.0001b |
| Subtype 2 | 2 (1.87) | 3 (1.25) | 0.6448b |
| Subtype 3/3 a | 41 (38.68) | 39 (16.32) | 0.0001b |
| Subtype 4 | 4 (3.79) | 9 (3.77) | 0.5034b |
| Liver biopsy (ISHAK score) (n = 262, 81+181) | |||
| Fibrosis; median (IQR a) | 3 (3-3) | 3 (3-4) | 0.004 c |
| Histology activity score; median (IQR) | 7 (6-9) | 8 (6-11) | 0.008 c |
| Duration of infection, y, mean ± SD | 8.98 ± 5.87 | 16.79 ± 8.99 | 0.001 c |
| Therapy, No. (%) (n = 189, 83+106) | |||
| PEG-IFN-α2a a | 67 (63.20) | 134 (56.07) | 0.1917b |
| PEG-IFN-α2b | 39 (36.80) | 105 (43.93) |
a Abbreviations: IQR, interquartile range; peG-IFn-α, pegylated interferon alpha; SD, Standard deviation
b Fisher's exact test
c Mann-Whitney U test
d In 57 patients genotype 1 was not typeable