Retrospective, observational multicenter study on an italian population affectred by chronic hepatitis C who failed to clear HCV-RNA after the combined therapy (PEG-IFN and Ribavirin): NADIR study

There is a lack of information on the characteristics of patients with chronic hepatitis C virus infection (HCV) who fail to respond to antiviral treatment. We studied HCVpositive subjects with chronic liver diseases treated with pegylated-interferon (PEG-IFN) and ribavirin (RBV) whofailed to clear HCV in routine clinical practice. A total of 2150 consecutive adult patients treated with PEG-IFN plus RBV therapy in 46 Italian centres between 1 July 2004, and 30 June 2005, were studied. Of the 2150 patients, 923 (42.9%) (M/F 585/335, mean age 54.8 years) failed to achieve a serum HCV-RNA clearance. Of these 923 patients, 429 (46.5%) were nonresponders, 298 (32.3%) relapsers, 168 (18.2%)