Bezafibrate Improves GLOBE and UK‐PBC Scores and Long‐Term Outcomes in Patients With Primary Biliary Cholangitis

• DOI: 10.1002/hep.30552
• Publication Date: 2019-02-09T04:10:56Z
• Authors: Akira Honda; Atsushi Tanaka; Tetsuji Kaneko; Atsumasa Komori; Masanori Abe; Mie Inao; Tadashi Namisaki; Naoaki Hashimoto; Kazuhito Kawata; Atsushi Takahashi; Masashi Ninomiya; Jong‐Hon Kang; Mie Arakawa; Satoshi Yamagiwa; Satoru Joshita; Takeji Umemura; Ken Sato; Akira Kaneko; Kentaro Kikuchi; Jun Itakura; Takako Nomura; Keisuke Kakisaka; Hideki Fujii; Norifumi Kawada; Yasuhiro Takikawa; Tsutomu Masaki; Hiromasa Ohira; Satoshi Mochida; Hitoshi Yoshiji; Satoshi Iimuro; Yasushi Matsuzaki; Hajime Takikawa
• Keywords: Bezafibrate; Globe

In Japan, bezafibrate (BF) is a second-line agent for primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) that refractory to ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) treatment. From retrospective cohort (n = 873) from the Japan PBC Study Group, we enrolled 118 patients who had received UDCA monotherapy at least 1 year followed by combination therapy with UDCA+BF year. GLOBE and UK-PBC scores after (i.e., immediately before therapy) were compared those of therapy. The real outcomes estimated Kaplan-Meier analysis predicted calculated using scores. addition, hazard ratio BF treatment was propensity score analysis. mean 0.504 ± 0.080, which improved significantly 0.115 0.085 (P < 0.0001) liver transplant-free survival better than introducing BF. Combination did not improve rates transplantation or liver-related death risk BF, but reduced addition 0.0001). Cox regression inverse probability weighting showed transplant in who, monotherapy, normal serum bilirubin (adjusted 0.09, 95% confidence interval 0.01-0.60, P 0.013). Conclusion: Addition improves only also long-term prognosis patients, especially early-stage PBC.