Increased mortality rates seen in chronic Hep C patients with pre-cirrhotic advanced fibrosis
March 06, 2017
Researchers noted that the increase in mortality for patients treated with peginterferon did not emerge until three years into treatment and continued for several years after treatment ceased. The excess mortality in the treatment group was mainly linked to non-liver-related causes. ???No specific cause of death accounted for the excess mortality, but deaths were unrelated to direct effects of peginterferon treatment,??? concluded Dr. Di Bisceglie. Researchers could not identify an excess frequency of any single condition or disease category for cause of non-liver related deaths. Only one death was determined to be a probable result of complications from peginterferon therapy. ???Our findings suggest that the long-term use of peginterferon should be evaluated cautiously and that attention to unrelated complications is warranted.???
This study is published in Hepatology.
Full citation: ???Excess Mortality in Patients With Advanced Chronic Hepatitis C Treated with Long-Term Peginterferon.??? Adrian Di Bisceglie, Anne Stoddard, Jules Dienstag, Mitchell Shiffman, Leonard Seeff, Herbert L. Bonkovsky, Chihiro Morishima, Elizabeth Wright, Kristen Snow, William Lee, Robert Fontana, Timothy Morgan, and Marc Ghany for the Halt-C Trial Group. Hepatology; Published Online: January 11, 2011 (DOI:10.1002/hep.24169); Print Issue Date: April 2011. onlinelibrary.wiley/doi/10.1002/hep.24169/abstract
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