2. Entry ALT or AST activities in the included trials.

Trial	Gluco+IFN	Control+IFN	All patients
Cianciara 1992	Mean ALT 91,2 IU/L	Mean ALT 88,6 IU/L	Mean ALT 91 IU/L
Giacchino 1995	Median AST: 60 IU/L	Median AST: 53 IU/L	Median ALT: 85
Gregorio 1996	Median ALT: 85 IU/L	Median ALT: 120 IU/L
Krogsgaard 1996	2.60 x upper normal limit	2.64 x upper normal limit
Lai 1991	Median ALT: 14 IU/L	Median ALT: 12 IU/L
Liaw 1994	Mean ALT: 231 IU/L	Mean ALT 260 IU/L	Mean ALT 246 IU/L
Lok 1992	Patients stratified before randomisation in high ALT median 141 IU/L (range: 62‐530) and low ALT median 21 IU/L (range: 7‐55)	Patients stratified before randomisation in high ALT median 141 IU/L (range: 52‐530) and low ALT median 20 IU/L (range: 10‐55)
Lopez 1996	3/5 had high ALT levels	2/4 patients had high ALT levels
Perez 1993	1.5 x upper normal limit (>100 IU/L)	1.5 x upper normal limit (>100 IU/L)
Perrillo 1990	152 IU/L	183 IU/L	167 IU/L
Reichen 1994	193 IU/L	283 IU/L	237 IU/L
Vajro 1996	238 IU/L	119 IU/L	181 IU/L
Özen 1998	178 IU/L	175 IU/L	177 IU/L