Brief Article
Copyright ©2009 The WJG Press and Baishideng. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Oct 21, 2009; 15(39): 4923-4927
Published online Oct 21, 2009. doi: 10.3748/wjg.15.4923
APRI as a predictor of early viral response in chronic hepatitis C patients
José A Mata-Marín, José L Fuentes-Allen, Jesús Gaytán-Martínez, Bulmaro Manjarrez-Téllez, Alberto Chaparro-Sánchez, Carla I Arroyo-Anduiza
José A Mata-Marín, José L Fuentes-Allen, Jesús Gaytán-Martínez, Bulmaro Manjarrez-Téllez, Alberto Chaparro-Sánchez, Infectious Diseases Department, Hospital de Infectología, “La Raza”, National Medical Center, IMSS, Mexico City 02990, México
Carla I Arroyo-Anduiza, Clinical Pathology Department, Hospital General “La Raza”, National Medical Center, IMSS, Mexico City 02990, México
Author contributions: Mata-Marín JA, Gaytán-Martínez J, Manjarrez-Téllez B and Chaparro-Sánchez A performed the majority of the experiments; All the authors provided the collection of all the human material in addition to providing financial support for this work; Mata-Marín JA provided the analytic tools for this paper; Mata-Marín JA, Fuentes-Allen JL, Gaytán-Martínez J and Arroyo-Anduiza CI provided vital reagents and were also involved in editing the manuscript; Mata-Marín JA designed the study and all the authors wrote the manuscript.
Correspondence to: Dr. José A Mata-Marín, Infectious Diseases Department, Hospital de Infectología, “La Raza”, National Medical Center, IMSS, Mexico City 02990, México. jamatamarin@yahoo.com.mx
Telephone: +52-55-30379053
Received: August 18, 2009
Revised: September 1, 2009
Accepted: September 8, 2009
Published online: October 21, 2009
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 case-control study. We enrolled chronic hepatitis C naive patients who were evaluated to start therapy with PEGylated interferon α-2b (1.5 μg/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/mm3 (± 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 [OR 0.61 (95% CI 0.229-1.655, P = 0.33)], and the absence of EVR was only associated with genotype 1 [OR 0.28 (95% CI 0.08-0.94, P = 0.034)]. After adjustment in a logistic regression model, genotype 1 remains significant.

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.

Keywords: Hepatitis C virus viral load, Viral genotype, Hepatitis C, Aspartate aminotransferase to platelet ratio index, Early viral response