Steatosis and Chronic Viral Hepatitis C

Abstract

Introduction. Numerous studies have demonstrated that patients infected with hepatitis C virus have a higher prevalence of steatosis than those with other hepatotropic viruses. Our objective is to evaluate the prevalence and predictive factors of steatosis in patients infected with the hepatitis C virus. Patients and methods. The files of patients followed at the internal medicine and infectious diseases department of Barika for chronic hepatitis C were collected for this retrospective study. Patients who did not undergo a liver biopsy (PBH) were not included. The diagnosis of steatosis was made by the pathological study. Epidemiological, virological and histological parameters were evaluated. To study the risk factors for steatosis, a univariate and multivariate analysis was carried out using logistic regression. Results. 78 patients had PBH. These are 59 (75.6%) women and 19 (24.4%) men. The average age was 55 years (32 - 72). The prevalence of fatty liver is 37.2%. The statistical analysis did not demonstrate a significant association between steatosis and female sex (P at 0.561), cytolysis (P at 0.753), fibrosis (P at 0.063), viral load (P at 0.669), the genotype (P at 0.510), alpha-fetoprotein (P at 0.401), dyslipidemia (P at 0.722). On the other hand, the presence of diabetes (P at 0.017), severe fibrosis (P at 0.018) and dysthyroidism (P at 0.049) significantly increases the risk of having steatosis. Conclusion. According to our series, it appears that steatosis is common in patients with chronic hepatitis C. Diabetes, severe fibrosis and dysthyroidism were the only predictive factors for steatosis.