Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio as a predictor of response to peginterferon plus ribavirin therapy for chronic hepatitis C

Ming Te Kuo, Tsung Hui Hu, Sheng Nan Lu, Chao Hung Hung*, Jing Houng Wang, Chien Hung Chen, Yi Chun Chiu, Chuan Mo Lee

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal Article peer-review

7 Scopus citations

Abstract

We aimed to determine whether neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) could be a predictor of antiviral response in chronic hepatitis C patients. A total of 602 consecutive patients (genotype 1, n = 263; genotype 2, n = 297; others/unknown, n = 42) receiving response-guided therapy with peginterferon plus ribavirin were recruited. NLR was related to clinical and virological features and to treatment outcome. Rapid virological response (RVR) and sustained virological response (SVR) were achieved in 436 (73%) and 458 (76%) of the patients, respectively. Higher NLR (≥1.42) was found to be associated with higher prevalence of DM (P = 0.039) and higher hepatitis C viral load (P = 0.002) and white cell count (P < 0.001). NLR was significantly lower in patients with RVR and SVR compared to those without (P = 0.032 and 0.034, resp.). However, NLR was not an independent factor by multivariate analysis. In the subgroup analysis, higher NLR (≥1.42) (odds ratio, 0.494, P = 0.038) was an independent poor predictor of SVR in genotype 2 patients but was not in genotype 1 patients. In conclusion, NLR is a simple and easily accessible marker to predict response to peginterferon plus ribavirin therapy for chronic hepatitis C genotype 2.

Original languageEnglish
Article number462958
JournalDisease Markers
Volume2014
DOIs
StatePublished - 2014

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2014 Ming-Te Kuo et al.

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