Favorable outcome of patients with C-viral liver disease treated with interferon

Hepatitis C virus related liver disease is one of the major cause of death in Japan. To evaluate the effect of interferon (IFN) therapy on survival, the prognosis of 459 patients with C-viral liver disease was examined. During the mean follow-up period of 8.2 years, 33 (9%) of 355 IFN-treated and 15 (14%) of 104 untreated patients died. Liver-related death, especially by HCC, was the main cause of death. IFN treatment decreased the risk for overall death to approximately a half and that for liver-related death to one fifth compared to untreated patients. The standardized mortality ratio for liver-related death was reduced to 0.4 by the IFN-treatment. This reduction was prominent in sustained virological responders. Thus, a long-term clinical benefit was expected from IFN therapy by reducing liver-related death, especially in sustained virological responders.