Table 5.

Overview of the treatment regimens for pegylated interferon in combination with ribavirin, for the 8 studies included, in relation to dose and duration

Ref.	Genotype		Duration	Interferon treatment	Ribavirin treatment
Apolinario et al[9]	Multi-centerpatients	1	48 wk	180 μg peg-INF-α-2a once weekly	800 mg per day or 1000 mg < 75 kg, 1200 mg > 75 kg
		Non-1	24-48 wk
	Out patiens	1	48 wk	peg-INF-α2b 1.5 μg/kg per week	1000-1200 mg per day
		Non-1	24 wk
Lagging et al[34]	1		6 wk1	180 μg peg-INF-α-2a once weekly	1000 mg < 75 kg, 1200 mg > 75 kg per day
Diago et al[7]	1		48 wk	peg-INF-α-2b 1.5 μg/kg per week or 180 μg peg-INF-α-2a/week	1000 mg < 75 kg, 1200 mg > 75 kg per day
	Non-1		24 wk
Fattovich et al[21]	1 and 4		48 wk	peg-INF-α-2b 1.5 μg/kg per week or 180 μg peg-INF-α-2a/week	800-1200 mg per day
	2 and 3		24 wk
Kurelac et al[33]	1		48 wk	peg-INF-α-2b 1.5 μg/kg per week	Weight based ribavirin treatment2
Darling et al[31]	1		48 wk	180 μg peg-INF-α-2a once weekly	1000-1200 mg per day
Derbala et al[32]	4		48 wk	Peg-IFN once weekly3	1000 mg < 75 kg, 1200 mg > 75 kg per day
Al-Ashgar[19]	4		48 wk	180 μg peg-INF-α-2a once weekly	1000 mg < 75 kg, 1200 mg > 75 kg

¹After 6 wk, patients were randomized to differentiated treatment regimes;

²No further information on ribavirin treatment was provided;

³No further information on the subtype of peg-IFN was provided. Apolinario et al[9] feature patients from both an outpatient clinic as well as patients from two multicenter trials receiving different treatment regimens, illustrated by the segregation in the genotype column. peg-IFN: Pegylated interferon.