Viral Hepatitis

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Epoetin alfa improves quality of life in anemic HCV-infected patients receiving combination therapy

  1. Paul J. Pockros M.D.1,†,*,
  2. Mitchell L. Shiffman2,
  3. Eugene R. Schiff3,
  4. Mark S. Sulkowski4,
  5. Zobair Younossi5,
  6. Douglas T. Dieterich6,
  7. Teresa L. Wright7,
  8. Samir H. Mody8,
  9. K. Linda Tang8,
  10. Betty L. Goon8,
  11. Peter J. Bowers9,
  12. Gerhard Leitz8,
  13. Nezam H. Afdhal10

Article first published online: 24 NOV 2004

DOI: 10.1002/hep.20482

Issue

Hepatology

Hepatology

Volume 40, Issue 6, pages 1450–1458, December 2004

Additional Information

How to Cite

Pockros, P. J., Shiffman, M. L., Schiff, E. R., Sulkowski, M. S., Younossi, Z., Dieterich, D. T., Wright, T. L., Mody, S. H., Tang, K. L., Goon, B. L., Bowers, P. J., Leitz, G. and Afdhal, N. H. (2004), Epoetin alfa improves quality of life in anemic HCV-infected patients receiving combination therapy. Hepatology, 40: 1450–1458. doi: 10.1002/hep.20482

Author Information

  1. 1

    Scripps Clinic, La Jolla, CA

  2. 2

    Hepatology Section, Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center, Richmond, VA

  3. 3

    University of Miami School of Medicine, Miami, FL

  4. 4

    Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD

  5. 5

    Center for Liver Diseases, Inova Fairfax Hospital, Falls Church, VA

  6. 6

    Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY

  7. 7

    San Francisco VA Hospital, San Francisco, CA

  8. 8

    Ortho Biotech Clinical Affairs, LLC, Bridgewater, NJ

  9. 9

    Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research and Development, Raritan, NJ

  10. 10

    Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA

  1. †

    fax: 858-554-8065

*Scripps Clinic, 10666 N. Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, CA 92037

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 24 NOV 2004
  2. Article first published online: 24 NOV 2004
  3. Manuscript Accepted: 17 SEP 2004
  4. Manuscript Received: 30 JUN 2004

Funded by

  • Ortho Biotech Clinical Affairs, LLC Bridgewater, NJ

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Abstract

Anemia and decreased health-related quality of life (HRQL) are common in patients receiving combination therapy of interferon alfa (IFN) and ribavirin (RBV) for chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. In a randomized, prospective study evaluating the effectiveness of epoetin alfa in maintaining RBV dose, alleviating anemia, and improving HRQL in anemic (Hb ≤ 12 g/dL) HCV-infected patients receiving combination therapy, patients receiving epoetin alfa had significant improvements in HRQL compared with placebo. In this study, 185 patients were randomized to 40,000 units of epoetin alfa subcutaneously weekly or placebo for an 8-week double-blind phase (DBP), followed by an 8-week open-label phase during which all patients received epoetin alfa. To further assess the impact of epoetin alfa on HRQL, post hoc analyses were conducted in the same patient population to compare the HRQL of these patients at randomization with norms of other populations, and to determine the critical relationship between hemoglobin (Hb) levels and HRQL. Mean HRQL scores of anemic HCV-infected patients receiving combination therapy at randomization were significantly lower than those of both the general population and patients who had other chronic conditions. Patients receiving epoetin alfa who had the greatest Hb increases from randomization to the end of the DBP also had the largest improvements in HRQL. Hb improvement was an independent predictor of HRQL improvement in these patients. In conclusion, epoetin alfa provided clinically significant HRQL improvement in HCV-infected patients receiving IFN/RBV therapy. (HEPATOLOGY 2004;40:1450–1458.)

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