Hepatitis C, Sequential Versus Concomitant Administration of Ribavirin and Interferon Alfa-n3 in Patients With Chronic Hepatitis C Not Responding to Interferon Alone: Results of a Randomized, Controlled Trial

table 1. Patients Characteristics

	Group 1	Group 2	Group 3

Patients	33	33	30
Sex (M/F)	28/5	28/5	23/7
Mean age (yr)	48.1	47.6	47.5
Mean ALT (IU ±SD)	162 ± 34	148 ± 42	136 ± 38
Source of infection
Blood transfusion	7 (21%)	5 (15%)	8 (27%)
Intravenous drug addiction	1 (3%)	2 (6%)	3 (10%)
Unknown	25 (76%)	26 (79%)	19 (63%)
Cirrhosis	10 (30%)	8 (24%)	6 (20%)
Mean HAI grading (±SD)	6.8 ± 3.8	7.1 ± 4.1	6.2 ± 3.9
Mean HAI staging (±SD)	3.1 ± 1.4	3.7 ± 1.1	3.2 ± 1.6
Mean HCV RNA levels (×10⁶ genEq/mL)
>0.2 × 10⁶	30 (90%)	28 (85%)	28 (93%)
<0.2 × 10⁶	3 (10%)	5 (15%)	2 (7%)
Genotype
1	25 (76%)	21 (64%)	18 (60%)
2	4 (12%)	5 (15%)	5 (16%)
3	3 (9%)	5 (15%)	4 (14%)
4	1 (3%)	2 (6%)	3 (10%)

Abbreviation: HAI, histological activity index.