Retinal vascular complications associated with interferon-ribavirin therapy for chronic hepatitis C: A population-based study

Chien Hsiung Lai, Yao Hsu Yang*, Pau Chung Chen, Ying Chi King, Chia Yen Liu

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal Article peer-review

7 Scopus citations

Abstract

Purpose: To investigate the incidence of retinal vascular complications and risk factors in patients with chronic hepatitis C receiving interferon-ribavirin therapy in Taiwan. Methods: By using the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database, we compared the incidence of retinal vascular complications between patients receiving and not receiving interferon-ribavirin treatment. The exposure and nonexposure groups were randomly 1:1 frequency-matched according to age, sex, income, urbanization level, hypertension, and diabetes. Incidence of each retinal vascular complication and hazard ratios were assessed in the follow-up evaluation. Results: Of the sample of 4736 patients, a total of 182 patients (3.84%) developed retinopathy during the follow-up period, of which 110 patients (4.65%) received interferon-ribavirin therapy and 72 patients (3.04%) did not receive interferon-ribavirin therapy. After multivariate adjustments, the risk of retinopathy during the follow-up period was 1.533 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.139-2.064; P =.0048) times higher in patients receiving interferon-ribavirin therapy than in those in the comparison cohort not receiving the therapy. Patients with hypertension compared with those without it (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.530; 95% CI, 1.069-2.135; P =.0125) also had an increased risk of retinopathy. Conclusions: Interferon-ribavirin therapy was associated with a 53.3% increased risk of retinal vascular complications compared with not receiving the therapy. Regular ophthalmologic examination is essential for patients receiving interferon-ribavirin, particularly those with hypertension.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)191-198
Number of pages8
JournalPharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety
Volume27
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - 02 2018

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Keywords

  • cotton-wool spots
  • hepatitis C virus
  • interferon
  • pharmacoepidemiology
  • retinal hemorrhage
  • retinal vascular complication

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