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Retrospective Analysis of the Effect of Taking a Statin Along with Peginterferon and Ribavirin

Hepatitis C :: Retrospective Analysis of the Effect of Taking a Statin Along with Peginterferon and Ribavirin

Researchers retrospectively analyzed the effect of taking peginterferon and ribavirin (PI+R, hepatitis C treatment options) and PI+R plus a statin to measure the sustained viral response (SVR, negative virus in blood six months after the end of treatment) rate in hepatitis C patients.

A modified intent to treat approach was taken to compare the therapy alone to the therapy with addition of a statin.

In this study, 104 patients taking PI+R were compared to 30 patients who took PI+R plus a statin. Almost all patients (25 of the 30) taking a statin were on simvastatin, two were on lovastatin, two were on atorvastatin and one on fluvastatin. According to study results, the patients on standard treatment achieved a 37 percent SVR rate ? the highest SVR reported to date in the medical literature for a VA-based population. Having a high SVR rate means a cure is 95 percent of the time based upon long-term follow up that is greater than six months after treatment. The SVR rate for patients taking triple therapy, PI+R plus a statin, was 63 percent.

Statins appear to be associated with a higher SVR rate when added to standard PI+R therapy. Retrospective data are subject to many problems and inaccuracies and should be only used to plan prospective trials.

"It is important for statins to be studied prospectively for their effect on hepatitis C," says Ted Bader, M.D., of University of Oklahoma in Oklahoma City, Okla., and lead author of this study. "Further study may contribute to developing a more effective outcome of treatment."

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