Efficacy and Tolerability of Peginterferon α-2a and Peginterferon α-2b, Both plus Ribavirin, for Chronic Hepatitis C: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

Table 2

Baseline characteristics in the two groups of peginterferon α-2a and peginterferon α-2b in this meta-analysis.

Study	Peginterferon group	Total patients	Mean; age (years)	Gender (male/female)	HCV genotype (1/2/3/4)	F3-4 OR cirrhosis, 𝑁 (%)	Body weight (kg)	BMI (kg/m^2)
Yenice et al. [5]	α-2a	37	49.95	13/24	37/0/0/0	NA	NA	NA
	α-2b	37	50.84	10/27	37/0/0/0	NA	NA	NA
Di Bisceglie et al.; [6]	α-2a	189	46.9 ± 0.52	121/68	189/0/0/0	28 (14.8)	86.5 ± 1.34	29.2 ± 0.44
	α-2b	191	48.4 ± 0.56	136/55	191/0/0/0	29 (15.2)	85.4 ± 1.32	28.5 ± 0.42
Scotto et al. [7]	α-2a	71	45.86 ± 9.33	42/29	45/6/8/12	13 (18.3)	80.7	18.5–24.9 (𝑛=32), 25–29.9 (𝑛=34), ≥30 (𝑛=5)
	α-2b	72	47.82 ± 9.61	40/32	47/5/9/11	13 (18.1)	78.9	18.5–24.9 (𝑛=35), 25–29.9 (𝑛=30), ≥30 (𝑛=7)
McHutchison et al. [8]	α-2a	1035	47.6 ± 8.2	613/422	1035/0/0/0	110 (10.6)	82.8 ± 16.6	NA
	α-2b	1019	47.5 ± 7.8	613/406	1019/0/0/0	111 (10.9)	84.0 ± 16.5	NA
Rumi et al. [9]	α-2a	212	51.6 ± 12.0	128/84	91/69/34/18	43 (20.3)^†	72.2 ± 14.6	25.5 ± 4.4
	α-2b	219	52.8 ± 12.0	120/99	87/74/32/26	39 (17.8)^†	68.9 ± 12.0	24.8 ± 3.7
Ascione et al. [10]	α-2a	160	51.3 ± 10.3	81/79	89/49/18/4	33 (20.6)	70.4 ± 10.6	25.5 ± 3.1
	α-2b	160	48.9 ± 11.3	94/66	92/50/17/1	26 (16.3)	69.9 ± 10.7	25.3 ± 3.0
Mach et al. [11]	α-2a	138	45.2 ± 10.5	80/58	138/0/0/0	13 (9.4)	NA	24.5 ± 0.9
	α-2b	122	44.2 ± 13.6	73/49	122/0/0/0	12 (9.8)	NA	25.1 ± 1.3

NA: not available; BMI: Body mass index; ^†Ishak score S5, 6.
F0–4 (F0: no fibrosis; F1: portal fibrosis without septa; F2: portal fibrosis with few septa; F3: numerous septa without cirrhosis; F4: cirrhosis).
All baseline characteristics were comparative between the two groups.