Effect of Interferon Therapy on the Incidence of Hepatocellular Carcinoma in Patients with Chronic Hepatitis C in Japan
10.3820/jjpe1996.5.49
- VernacularTitle:日本におけるC型慢性肝炎に対するインターフェロン療法の肝癌予防効果
- Author:
Satoshi TERAMUKAI
- Publication Type:Journal Article
- Keywords:
chronic hepatitis C;
interferon;
hepatocellular carcinoma;
meta-analysis
- From:Japanese Journal of Pharmacoepidemiology
2001;5(2):49-58
- CountryJapan
- Language:Japanese
-
Abstract:
Objective : To evaluate the risk for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and the effect of interferon therapy on the incidence of HCC in patients with chronic hepatitis C by combining results from different studies in Japan.
Design : Literature-based meta-analysis
Methods : Thirteen follow-up studies for patients with chronic hepatitis C conducted in Japan were selected by systematic review of MEDLINE, EMBASE and manual searching. An unadjusted incidence rate ratio of HCC between treatment groups was calculated and an adjusted incidence rate ratio was estimated after adjustments using estimates for the degree of confounding from some of the studies.
Results : A total of 7 observational studies (1, 498 patients in the non-interferon group and 5, 451 patients in the interferon group) were included in this meta-analysis. The summary estimate of unadjusted incidence rate ratio was 0.37 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.30 to 0.46). For 4 studies that had performed a multivariate analysis to adjust confounding factors such as sex, age, histological stage of hepatitis, the correction factor, which was estimated from the ratio of an unadjusted incident rate ratio to an adjusted incident rate ratio, was 0.64. The adjusted incidence rate ratio for incidence of HCC estimated using the correction factor was 0.58 (95% CI, 0.46 to 0.73) for interferon treatment to non-interferon treatment. After including all studies, the pooled 5-year estimated risk for HCC was 0.107 in the non-interferon group (n=2, 016) and the risk was 0.051 in the interferon group (n=6, 691).
Conclusion : Treatment with interferon reduces the risk for HCC in patients with chronic hepatitis C.
