In this study, a nationwide database was used to identify the risk factors for treatment discontinuation due to adverse events during telaprevir, peginterferon, and ribavirin (T/PR) treatment, and estimate the increase in the occurrence of adverse events when patients have multiple risk factors at the same time. The risk factors were identified using univariate logistic regression analysis, and a Cochran-Armitage trend test was used to analyze the correlation between the number of risk factors and treatment discontinuation due to adverse events. Of the 25989 individuals registered in the database, 1668 (age, mean±standard deviation (S.D.): 58.0±9.9) were included in the study. Of these, 188 (11.3%) discontinued T/PR therapy due to adverse events. In the univariate logistic regression analysis, sex, age, aspartate aminotransferase (AST) level, and platelet count were found to significantly affect the incidence of T/PR treatment discontinuation (p<0.05). Furthermore, the incidence of treatment discontinuation gradually increased from 4.6 to 27.2% as the number of risk factors increased from 0 to 4, and the Cochran-Armitage trend test showed a significant correlation (p<0.001). In conclusion, this study not only revealed the risk factors for treatment discontinuation but also showed that patients with multiple risk factors are more likely to discontinue treatment due to adverse events compared to patients with fewer risk factors.
Keywords: hepatitis C; interferon; nationwide database; regional difference; ribavirin; telaprevir.