Sorin Petre, Vijayan Balan, Jose Hernandez, Marek
Mazur, Raymond Heilman, Mankanwal
Sachdev, Hugo Vargas., Thomas Byrne, M. Edwyn Harrison, David Douglas, Marianne Rosati,
Jane Hart, Jorge Rakela
Background
The prevalence of chronic hepatitis C (CHC) in patients with predialysis chronic renal failure has been estimated to be 20%. However the prevalence of chronic renal insufficiency (CRI) in patients with CHC remains unknown. Renal insufficiency in CHC patients may lead to a higher incidence of complications of HCV treatment and may prevent optimal treatment.
Aim
The aim of this study is to determine the prevalence of CRI in patients with CHC and to describe the severity of the kidney impairment as defined by the National Kidney Foundation and Kidney Disease Outcomes Quality Initiative (KDOQI) guidelines.
Methods
Review of consecutive CHC patients seen at least once in our clinic from July 2000 to August 2003. Creatinine clearance was calculated using Cockroft-Gault formula and patients were categorized according to severity of kidney dysfunction as follows: stage 1 - GFR (glomerular filtration rate -expressed in ml/min/1.73m2)- > 90 and proteinuria; stage 2 - GFR between 60 and 80; stage 3 - GFR 30-59; stage 4 - GFR 15-29; stage 5 - GFR < 15 or on hemodialysis or peritoneodialysis. Hepatic chemistries, CBC and liver synthetic function markers were recorded for each patient.
Results
831 patients were evaluated during the study period. Of these 522 patients had data to determine creatinine clearance and 170/531 (32%) were found to have renal impairment. The degree of CRI was as follows: stage 1 -(5%); stage 2 - (33%; stage 3 - 30/170 (17.64%); stage 4 - 2/170 (1.17%); and stage 5 - 38/170 (22.35 %). The prevalence of cirrhosis was similar in all groups (normal 14%, stage 1-67%, stage 2-5%, stage 3-33%, stage 4-0%, stage 5-7% p=NS. Serum hemoglobin, AST and albumin were significantly lower in patients with stage 5 disease. Other laboratory tests were similar in all groups. The etiology of CRI in 38 patients with end stage kidney disease were: 3 - cryoglobulinemia, 5 - glomerulonephritis, 23 - diabetes and/or hypertension, 3 - reflux nephropathy, 3 - polycystic kidney disease and 1- mixed connective tissue disease.
Conclusion
The prevalence of CRI in our large series of chronic hepatitis C patients is 30-49. The presence of cirrhosis was not associated with the degree of CRI in our series. In CHC patients, serum creatinine alone cannot reliably identify those with CRI. Hepatitis C patients should be more rigorously be screened for renal insufficiency due to the high prevalence of kidney impairment which may lead to a higher incidence of complications of hepatitis C treatment.
Jason
A. Dominitz, Edward J. Boyko,
Thomas D. Koepsell, Patrick J. Heagerty,
Charles Maynard, Jennifer L. Sporleder, VA
Cooperative Study #488 Investigators
Background
Several studies have suggested that the prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is higher in veterans than in the general population, possibly related to military exposures.
Purpose
To estimate the prevalence of anti-HCV antibody and to determine the risk factors for infection among randomly selected users of Veterans Health Administration (VA) medical centers.
Methods
Using a population-based, two-staged cluster sample
and cross-sectional design, veterans were selected at random from 20 randomly
selected VA medical centers with 200 Vietnam Era Veterans. 1288 of 3863 veterans
who had used one of the 20 VA facilities participated. Non-participants either
refused (n=1139), could not be contacted despite extensive efforts (n=1325),
died (n=73) or could not have blood drawn (n=38). Adjustment for
non-participation bias was performed using demographic and clinical data in VA
databases. HCV serostatus was determined by EIA with RIBA confirmation.
Results
The prevalence of anti-HCV antibody among serology
participants was 4.0 per 100 (95% confidence interval (CI) 2.6-5.5). The
estimated prevalence in the full population of VA users was 5.4 per 100 (95% CI
3.3-7.5) after adjustment for sociodemographic and
clinical characteristics known to differ between participants and
non-participants. Significant predictors of HCV included demographic factors
(age, marital status, lower income); period of military service, prior
diagnoses (drug and alcohol use, cirrhosis, mental illness, prior diagnosis of
hepatitis C or B); health care utilization (greater clinic visit and
hospitalization frequency, liver biopsy, liver transplantation, hemodialysis,
prior testing for hepatitis C or HIV, air injection vaccination); and lifestyle
factors (drug use, tattoos, body piercing, high risk sexual behavior,
incarceration for more than 48 hours, and homelessness). Using logistic
regression to adjust for injection drug use and non-participation, the odds of
seropositivity were increased with prior testing for HCV and HIV, tattoos, and
incarceration for 48 or more hours. 63% of all subjects and 100% of those
seropositive for HCV reported blood transfusions, intravenous drug use, drug
snorting, tattoos, incarceration, or >15 sexual partners.
Conclusions
The prevalence of HCV in this population
exceeds the estimate from the general
In addition the investigator, Jason A. Dominitz, stated that the VA system should start to prepare for the increasing burden of care since HCV positive patients will progress on to more serious disease progression over time.
Ponni Perumalswami, David Kleiner,
Glen A. Lutchman, Theo Heller, Bahman
Bozorg, Yoon Park, T. Jake Liang,
Marc Ghany, Jay Hoofnagle
Fibrosis progression is the best predictor
of long-term outcome in CHC. Hepatic steatosis is a frequent histologic finding in CHC and was recently reported to be
an independent factor associated with progression of hepatic fibrosis. However
this finding is controversial. Longitudinal studies of untreated patients may
help resolve the issue.
Aims
To evaluate the clinical correlates of hepatic steatosis and to determine whether hepatic steatosis is associated with fibrosis progression in a large cohort of untreated CHC pts with paired liver biopsies (LBx).
Methods
A computer NIH database was searched from 1980 to 2003 for all pts with a diagnosis of CHC and an adequate LBx. Pts.charts were reviewed and the following clinical information was recorded: age at biopsy, sex, race, weight, height, BMI, LFT's, cholesterol, triglycerides (TG), ETOH use, presence of DM and viral genotype. Pts with HIV and other chronic liver diseases were excluded. All LBx were read under code by a single hepatopathologist using the Knodell HAI scale to score necroinflammation and Ishak scale for fibrosis. Hepatic steatosis was graded as none, <5%, 5-25%, 25-50%, 50-75% and 75-100%. These were grouped as none, mild (<25%) and moderate to severe (>25%). ANOVA controlling for degree of fibrosis was used to analyze correlations with steatosis. Multivariate regression analysis was used to identify factors associated with steatosis and fibrosis progression.
Results
720 pts were identified of whom 494 pts met study criteria. Mean age at biopsy was 44+/- 9.8 years, 60% were male, 80% Caucasian and 50% had genotype 1. Mean HAI and Ishak scores were 8.3 and 2.3 respectively. Age, sex, weight, BMI, ALKP, ALT, AST, TG, HAI and Ishak score were significantly associated with steatosis but not DM and ETOH. In multivariate analysis, only age, BMI and ALT were associated with steatosis. To assess whether steatosis affected progression of fibrosis, we analyzed 140 pts. with paired Lbx without intervening therapy. Mean duration between biopsies was 44.4 months. Older age at biopsy, periportal inflammation, Ishak score, and ALT were independently associated with fibrosis progression. There was no correlation between change in steatosis grade and change in fibrosis score between biopsies (p=.75).
Conclusions
Hepatic steatosis in CHC appears to be associated with altered metabolic indices. Although hepatic steatosis is associated with hepatic fibrosis it does not predict fibrosis progression in pts with CHC.
Suthat Liangpunsakul, Raj Vuppalanchi,
Naga Chalasani
Background & Aims
While the strong association between
hepatitis C and type 2-diabetes and insulin resistance is established, it is
unclear if individuals with hepatitis C have higher prevalence of metabolic
syndrome. Microalbuminuria is associated with
diabetes, insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome, and predicts progressive
renal disease as well as cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. As individuals
with hepatitis C have higher prevalence of diabetes and insulin resistance, it
is possible that they may have higher prevalence of microalbuminuria.
However, this hypothesis has not been tested. Therefore, we conducted a large
population-based case-control study by using a representative sample of the
general population of the
Methods
Study cohort consisted of 15,336
Results
The study cohort consisted of 362 subjects with HCV and 995 matched controls. As expected, the prevalence of diabetes and insulin resistance was significantly higher in hepatitis C than the controls. Compared to the controls, individuals in the HCV group had a significantly higher prevalence of microalbuminuria but not metabolic syndrome. HCV was an independent risk factor for microalbuminuria. In the multivariate analysis, older age and being African-American were independently associated with microalbuminuria in HCV.
Conclusions
Hepatitis C is independently associated with microalbuminuria but not the metabolic syndrome. African-Americans with hepatitis C are at significantly higher risk to have microalbuminuria. More research is needed to examine the significance of these findings.