OBJECTIVETo evaluate the effects of antiviral nucleotide/nucleoside analogues (NUCs) and interferon (IFN) on liver fibrosis and progression to cirrhosis in patients with hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection.

METHODSThe literature databases of PubMed (1966 to 2011), Embase (1966 to 2011), Wanfang database (1998 to 2011), Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI; 1997 to 2010), and Chinese Biomedical (CBMdisc; 1860 to 2011) were searched for studies that met the following criteria: (1) case-control phase III clinical trails that used only one kind of antiviral drug (NUCs or IFN), with the controls receiving placebo or no treatment; (2) analysis of biopsy specimens collected before and after treatment for both the cases and controls; (3) assessment of fibrosis as an outcome measure of the treatment's effect. The data from all 11 studies included in the meta-analysis were extracted and analyzed by the RevMan5.1 software.

RESULTSNUC treatment significantly regressed liver fibrosis, as compared with placebo treatment (33.7% vs. 19.2%, relative risk (RR): 1.82, 95% confidence interval (CI): [1.47, 2.25], P less than 0.01). NUC treatment significantly reduced the progression of fibrosis, as compared with placebo treatment (9.1% vs. 24.8%, RR: 0.33, 95% CI: [0.19, 0.58], P less than 0.01). IFN treatment significantly reduced progression of fibrosis, as compared with no treatment (23.8% vs. 30.7%, RR: 0.48, 95% CI: [0.34, 0.69], P less than 0.01). IFN significantly reduced progression to cirrhosis, as compared with no treatment (10.6% vs. 18.0%, RR: 0.62, 95% CI: [0.44, 0.88], P less than 0.01).

CONCLUSIONOne year of NUC treatment could partly regress liver fibrosis and partly reduce the progression of fibrosis, while one year of IFN treatment could reduce the progression of fibrosis and cirrhosis.