Clinical Study

Efficacy and Safety of Low-Dose Peginterferon Alpha-2a Plus Ribavirin on Chronic Hepatitis C

Table 4

Adverse clinical and laboratory reported during treatment and followup.

Adverse EventsOverall
( )
Group I: peg-IFN α-2a 180 μg/week plus ribavirin ( )Group II: peg-IFN α-2a 135 μg/week plus ribavirin ( )Group III: peg-IFN α-2a 90 μg/week plus ribavirin ( )P value

Laboratory abnormalities
 Hemoglobin < 80 g/L47 (19.3)18 (20.7)12 (19.1)17 (18.3)0.918
 Neutrophils < 0.75 × 109/L6 (2.5)3 (3.4)2 (2.3)1 (1.1)0.541
 Platelets < 50 × 109/L9 (3.7)4 (4.6)3 (4.7)2 (2.2)0.600
 Thyroid dysfunction15 (6.2)9 (10.2)5 (7.9)1 (1.1)0.028
No adverse events, n (%)41 (16.9)10 (11.5)8 (12.7)23 (24.7)0.036
Common adverse events (>10%)
 Fatigue 154 (63.4)65 (74.7)38 (60.3)51 (54.8)0.018
 Fever134 (55.1)55 (63.2)34 (54.0)45 (48.4)0.132
 Headache 67 (27.6)31 (35.6)16 (25.4)20 (21.5)0.096
 Dermatitis or Pruritus46 (18.9)20 (22.9)11 (17.5)15 (16.1)0.473
 Nausea34 (13.9)15 (17.2)9 (14.3)10 (10.8)0.454
 Arthralgia or Myalgia30 (12.3)12 (13.8)9 (14.3)9 (9.7)0.607
 Irritability or Depression27 (11.1)11 (12.6)8 (12.7)8 (8.6)0.619
 Insomnia25 (10.3)10 (11.5)8 (12.7)7 (7.5)0.522

Notes. All values are expressed as n (%). P value was given by 2 × 3 chi-square test comparing the three different peg-IFN α-2a dose groups.