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Efficacy of lamivudine therapy in elderly patients with chronic hepatitis B infection

  • Liver, Pancreas, and Biliary Tract
  • Published:
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Abstract

Background

The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of lamivudine therapy in elderly patients with chronic HBV infection.

Methods

Patients aged ≥60 years (n = 40) received lamivudine monotherapy between February 1995 and September 2005 at Toranomon Hospital. We compared the efficacy of lamivudine therapy in these patients and in 639 patients aged <60 years, including 80 patients aged <60 years matched for sex, hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) status, and hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA level.

Results

The rates of normalization of alanine aminotransferase (ALT) level in 40 patients aged ≥60 years and 639 patients aged <60 years were 85% versus 76%, and 86% versus 73% at 1 and 3 years, respectively. The respective rates of loss of HBV-DNA were 74% versus 74%, and 76% versus 68% at 1 and 3 years. The respective cumulative emergence rates of the YMDD mutant were 16% and 17% at 1 year, and 46% and 49% at 3 years. In 80 patients <60 years old matched for sex, HBeAg status, and HBV-DNA level, the rates of normalization of the ALT level and loss of HBV-DNA were similar to those in the 639 patients aged <60 years. The emergence rate of YMDD mutants in patients aged ≥60 years were similar to those in matched patients aged <60 years. Multivariate analyses identified low serum bilirubin (<1 mg/dl) as an independent factor associated with the emergence of the YMDD motif mutation in patients aged ≥60 years.

Conclusions

Our results suggest that treatment with lamivudine is both well tolerated and efficacious in elderly patients with chronic HBV infection.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Hepatology, Toranomon Hospital, 2-2-2 Toranomon, Minato-ku, Tokyo, 105-8470, Japan

    Tomokazu Kawaoka, Fumitaka Suzuki, Norio Akuta, Yoshiyuki Suzuki, Yasuji Arase, Hitomi Sezaki, Yusuke Kawamura, Tetsuya Hosaka, Masahiro Kobayashi, Kenji Ikeda & Hiromitsu Kumada

Authors
  1. Tomokazu Kawaoka
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  2. Fumitaka Suzuki
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  3. Norio Akuta
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  4. Yoshiyuki Suzuki
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  5. Yasuji Arase
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  6. Hitomi Sezaki
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  7. Yusuke Kawamura
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  8. Tetsuya Hosaka
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  9. Masahiro Kobayashi
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  10. Kenji Ikeda
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  11. Hiromitsu Kumada
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Kawaoka, T., Suzuki, F., Akuta, N. et al. Efficacy of lamivudine therapy in elderly patients with chronic hepatitis B infection. J Gastroenterol 42, 395–401 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00535-007-2015-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00535-007-2015-2

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