Abstract
BackgroundCognitive impairment in patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) is reported in the early onset of HCV infection without hepatic cirrhosis or marked liver impairment. Methods currently available to identify the risk for early cognitive impairment in hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection do not combine enough sensitivity and specificity. The present study aimed to evaluate the P 300 components of event-related potential (ERP) abnormalities as valid biomarkers for prediction and diagnosis of the cognitive impairment in newly diagnosed hepatitis C virus infection. This study is a case–control involved fifty patients newly diagnosed HCV and fifty age and sex-matched healthy controls. Assessments of cognitive functions were carried out by the Mini-mental State Examination, Wechsler Memory Scale Revised short form, and The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, in addition to estimation of the amplitude and the latency of the P300 by the event-related potentials.ResultsNeuropsychological scales suggested the early incidence of cognitive impairment among hepatitis C virus patients. The electrophysiological study showed significant prolongation of P300 latency and decreased amplitude in HCV patients group compared with the control group. A binary logistic regression detected that P 300 latency ≥ 369 ms was significantly accompanied by a threefold increased risk of impaired cognition (OR 3.09, 95% CI 1.59–5.72, P < 0.01), while P 300 amplitude ≤ 8.2 μv was significantly accompanied by a twofold increased risk of impaired cognition (OR 2.18, 95% 1.43–4.05, P < 0.01).ConclusionThis study concluded that the P300 event-related potentials components are valid biomarker as easy, noninvasive assessment and cost-effective method of early cognitive impairment in patients with uncomplicated newly diagnosed hepatitis C virus.Registration of Clinical Trial ResearchClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT04389268. https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04389268
Highlights
Hepatitis C virus infection is estimated to affect 3.5 million people in the USA and 71 million people worldwide [1, 2]
The amplitude and the latency of the P300 were estimated by the event-related potentials and the results of P 300 in hepatitis C virus (HCV) patients group were compared with the control group (Fig. 1)
Patient characteristics No significant differences were found between the patients with HCV infection and controls regarding age, gender, marital status, occupation, level of education and socioeconomic status (Table 1)
Summary
Hepatitis C virus infection is estimated to affect 3.5 million people in the USA and 71 million people worldwide [1, 2]. Hepatitis C virus is considered as epidemic infection in Egypt, having the highest prevalence in the world (14.7%) [3, 4] In these patients, health outcomes are greatly affected by a range of common comorbidities, Esmael et al Egypt J Neurol Psychiatry Neurosurg (2022) 58:12 including various types of psychological and cognitive disorders [5, 6]. The incidence of cognitive impairment in patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) is reported in the early onset of HCV infection without hepatic cirrhosis or marked liver impairment [7, 8]. Cognitive impairment in patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) is reported in the early onset of HCV infection without hepatic cirrhosis or marked liver impairment. Assessments of cognitive functions were carried out by the Mini-mental State Examination, Wechsler Memory Scale Revised short form, and The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, in addition to estimation of the amplitude and the latency of the P300 by the event-related potentials
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