Treatment of chronic hepatitis C in a Canadian Aboriginal population: results from the PRAIRIE study

The Aboriginal population of Canada is at increased risk of exposure to the hepatitis C virus (HCV). Previous data indicate that spontaneous clearance of HCV occurs more often in Aboriginals than Caucasians. Whether this enhanced response extends to antiviral therapy for chronic HCV remains to be determined. To document and compare the biochemical and virological responses to antiviral therapy in HCV-infected Canadian Aboriginals and Caucasians. A total of 101 treatment-naive adult patients (46 Aboriginal, 55 Caucasian) with chronic HCV genotype 1 infections were prospectively treated with pegylated-interferon and ribavirin and followed as per national guidelines. Aboriginals had higher HCV-RNA loads at baseline (6.42log(10) versus 5.98log(10); P