Improvement of Long-term Outcomes Post-treatment
Reduction of Development of HCC and Improvement of Overall Survival: A Population-based Study in Taiwan
Whether Peg-IFN and RBV combination therapy could reduce the risk of HCC or improve survival in HCV/HBV dually infected patients was evaluated in a large population-based cohort from Taiwan. We examined the risk of HCC, mortality, and adverse events in 1096 treated and 17 562 untreated HCV/HBV dually infected patients. After adjustment, combination therapy significantly reduced the risk of HCC ([HR] 0.75, 95% confidence interval [95%CI] 0.58–0.96), liver-related mortality (HR 0.45, 95% CI 0.35–0.57), and all-cause mortality (HR 0.39, 95%CI 0.32–0.48) (Table 1). Nevertheless, the underlying HBV infection was still a risk factor for HCC and mortality after treatment. Our data demonstrated that combination therapy decreased the risk of developing HCC and improved survival in HCV/HBV dually infected patients.