Natural history of hepatitis C virus infection in a cohort of asymptomatic post-transfused subjects.
Ann Hepatol
; 11(5): 658-66, 2012.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-22947526
ABSTRACT
UNLABELLED BACKGROUND & AIMS. Studies about the natural history of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection report variable progression to cirrhosis depending on study design. Retrospective cross-sectional liver clinic studies overestimate the rate of fibrosis progression due to inclusion of patients with more severe disease leaving mild and asymptomatic patients underrepresented. We evaluated fibrosis progression in a group of "healthy" asymptomatic subjects, attending to a voluntary campaign for the detection of HCV infection. MATERIAL AND METHODS:
A detection campaign was launched on subjects transfused before 1993. Of 1699 volunteers, 61(3.6%) had HCV infection. A liver biopsy was performed in 40 (65%). Assessed risk factors for liver fibrosis were sex, body mass index, alcohol consumption (> 20 g/d - > 40g/d ), genotype, HLA-DRB1 alleles, present age, age at infection and duration of infection.RESULTS:
25 (62.5%) were women with a median age of 52.5 years. The median duration of infection was 21.5 years with a median age at infection of 27 years. As regards fibrosis, 25 (62.5%) had a Low Stage (F0-F1), 8 patients, 20%, had severe fibrosis, one patient (2.5%) had cirrhosis. Alcohol consumption was the only risk factor associated with fibrosis progression.CONCLUSIONS:
The low progression to cirrhosis may be explained by the clinical characteristics of our population asymptomatic middle-aged "healthy" subjects infected at young age. The progression to severe fibrosis was noticeable; hence a longer follow-up might demonstrate changes in this outcome. Significant alcohol consumption clearly worsens the natural history of HCV infection; this is no so evident for occasional or mild alcohol consumers.
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Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Transfusão de Sangue
/
Hepatite C
/
Cirrose Hepática
Tipo de estudo:
Diagnostic_studies
/
Etiology_studies
/
Observational_studies
/
Prevalence_studies
/
Prognostic_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limite:
Adult
/
Aged
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
País/Região como assunto:
America do sul
/
Argentina
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2012
Tipo de documento:
Article