Efficacy and safety of pegylated interferon in patients with chronic hepatitis C in China : meta - analysis.

Objective To evaluate the efficacy and safety of pegylated interferon in patients with chronic hepatitis C in China. Methods A search was performed using the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials ( Cochrane Library, Issue 11, 2012), OVID EBM Reviews, CNKI, and Wanfang database to identify relevant case - control studies of pegylated interferon therapy for chronic hepatitis C in China that were published from January 2002 to December 31, 2012. We screened the retrieved studies according to the predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria, evaluated the quality of included studies, and performed meta - analysis using the Cochrane Collaboration's RevMan 5 . 0 software. Results Eleven case - control studies involving 1106 patients with chronic hepatitis C were included. All included studies had a mean score of 1. 7 on the modified Jadad scale. The meta - analysis showed that the sustained virological response rate of patients was significantly higher in pegylated interferon group than in control group ( RR = 0 . 4 9, 95% CI = 0 . 4 3 - 0. 57, P < 0. 001 ) . There was one study indicating a higher rate of adverse reactions in the experimental group, but other studies revealed no significantly higher rate of adverse reactions in the experimental group compared with control group ; relevant meta - analysis was not performed due to the small number of patients who developed adverse reactions in both groups. Conclusion Proper use of pegylated interferon combined with ribavirin has good therapeutic efficacy in patients with chronic hepatitis C. However, its safety should be verified by more high - quality randomized controlled trials due to the limits of quantity and quality of included studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]