APRI as a predictor of early viral response in chronic hepatitis C patients

Abstract

AIM:To evaluate the aspartate aminotransferase (AST) to platelet ratio index (APRI) as a predictive factor of early viral response in chronic hepatitis C naive patients. METHODS:We performed an ambispective casecontrol study. We enrolled chronic hepatitis C naive patients who were evaluated to start therapy with PEGylated interferon a-2b (1.5 mg/kg per week) and ribavirin (> 75 kg: 1200 mg and < 75 kg: 1000 mg). Patients were allocated into two groups, group 1: Hepatitis C patients with early viral response (EVR), group 2: Patients without EVR. Odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated to assess the relationship between each risk factor and the EVR in both groups. RESULTS:During the study, 80 patients were analyzed, 45 retrospectively and 35 prospectively. The mean ± SD age of our subjects was 42.9 ± 12 years; weight 70 kg (± 11.19), AST 64.6 IU/mL (± 48.74), alanine aminotransferase (ALT) 76.3 IU/mL (± 63.08) and platelets 209 000 mill/mm 3 (± 84 429). Fifty-five (68.8%) were genotype 1 and 25 (31.3%) were genotype 2 or 3; the mean hepatitis C virus RNA viral load was 2 269 061 IU/mL (± 7 220 266). In the univariate analysis, APRI was not associated with EVR CONCLUSION:APRI was not a predictor of EVR in chronic hepatitis C; Genotype 1 was the only predictive factor associated with the absence of EVR in our patients.

Predictors of Complete Early Virological Response to Pegylated Interferon and Ribavirin in Egyptian Patients with Chronic Hepatitis C Genotype 4

“…De Careaga [19] reported that patients with hepatitis C and cirrhosis have lower rates of sustained responses even with the absence of cirrhosis, the Although not statistically significant, we found that the lower the APRI the better the achievement of a C EVR, however Mata-Marin et al; [20] found no association when APRI was more than 1.2 and early virological response when stratifying between genotype 1 and genotype other than 1 to evaluate APRI as predictor of EVR.…”

Ultra-Rapid Virological Response, Young Age, Low γ-GT/ALT-Ratio, and Absence of Steatosis Identify a Subgroup of HCV Genotype 3 Patients Who Achieve SVR with IFN-α2a Monotherapy

“…In addition to the HCV genotype [ 10 ], host-specific clinical, laboratory, and genetic factors [ 22 , 26 , 32 – 34 ] have been recognized. Pre-treatment laboratory factors such as γ-GT/ALT-ratio [ 26 , 34 ], AST to platelet ratio index (APRI) [ 24 , 35 ], or clinical and histological factors [ 36 ] should also be considered in making a therapeutic decision.…”

Simple non-invasive markers as a predictor of fibrosis and viral response in chronic hepatitis C patients

“…In another study, platelet count and AST/ALT ratio were shown to have no predictive value for SVR, but a cut-off value ≥1 for AST/ALT ratio was evaluated (25). In a study evaluating the association between APRI and EVR, no relationship could be found (26). When response to treatment in CHC patients was evaluated, it was seen that hepatic vein transit time (HVTT) increased (p=0.01) and APRI score decreased (p=0.003) in patients with response (27 Table 4).…”

“…We found a small number of reports about the relationship between NILFT and SVR/non-SVR (23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28). Absence of EVR, nonwhite race, AST/ALT ratio ≥1.0, and presence of steatosis ≥5% in liver biopsy are independent predictors of absence of SVR in patients with chronic HCV infection receiving PEG-IFN and ribavirin combination treatment (23).…”