Impact of liver steatosis on virological response in elderly Italian patients with chronic hepatitis C treated with peg-interferon alpha-2b plus ribavarin

SUMMARY Background: Whether liver steatosis affects sustained virological response in patients with chronic hepatitis C is still under discussion. Aim: To evaluate the impact of liver steatosis in patients treated (for chronic hepatitis C) with combination therapy. Methods: We evaluated 97 (male/female 82/15, mean age 41.1 years) consecutive nao ¨ve patients treated with pegylated interferon alpha-2b plus ribavirin. Results: Prevalence and severity of liver steatosis were significantly associated with genotype 3a [grade 3–4 in 14 of 32 patients (44%) vs. 8 of 65 patients (12%) with other genotypes; P ¼ 0.001], while steatosis grade 1 (<10% of hepatocytes affected) was more frequently associated with genotype 1a/1b [9/39 (23%) vs. 4/57