Hepatitis C: Epidemiologic investigation and therapeutical treatment in Greece

Marianna Diomidous, Stelios Zimeras, Dimitris Zikos, Dimitris Charalabides, Ioannis Pistolis

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

The HCV infection is a serious public health problem and according to WHO and CDC more than 500.000 individuals have been infected worldwide, from which the 85% have developed chronic hepatitis C. Despite the fact that hepatitis C causes diffuse necrosis and liver inflammation, the therapeutic approach of the disease with a combined interferon and ribavirin treatment, has improved survival rates. The aim of the present study is to analyze a sample of 265 patients with hepatitis C from the Hepatologic Centre of the 'Elena' hospital in Athens, Greece and to investigate potential virologic, clinical and demographic characteristics of the patients that may constitute important correlation factors. Advanced statistical techniques have been applied to investigate the significant factors that affect PCR values. Application of x2-test indicates that a significant difference was found between: PCR values vs SGPT (Fisher test, p=0.0001). With the use of factor analysis, a model has been implemented, including two factors which interpret the 74.35% of the initial information. Finally, a predictive logistic regression model has been used for the PCR and SGPT factors, predicting 92.4% of the corrected values of PCR.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)51-57
Number of pages7
JournalReview of Clinical Pharmacology and Pharmacokinetics, International Edition
Volume23
Issue number2
Publication statusPublished - 2009

Keywords

  • Hepatitis C
  • Interferon a
  • Logistic regression
  • Non-parametric test
  • PCR

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