Abstract

Objective: We aimed to determine prevalence and epidemiological characteristics of cases coinfected with hepatitis B virus (HBV)/hepatitis C virus (HCV) in Turkey. Material and Methods: The data for this study was obtained from Turk-Hepatitis Registry (HEP-NET) Project, which includes real-life cohort of hepatitis patients from 15 centers in Turkey, and is supported by Viral Hepatitis Society. In the project, 10,165 hepatitis cases were evaluated in 10 hospitals. Results: According to initial visit results, HBV/HCV coinfection was detected in 99 patients. The ratio was 974/100 000. The mean age of the cases was 40.9+21.7 years, 56.6% of them were males and 43.4% were females,. The major risk factors were dental therapy, any surgical procedure, hemodialysis and blood transfusion. The mean alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels were 70.9±49.1 IU/L in coinfected patients. In 12% of cases HBeAg was positive. The median HCV RNA level was found 0 IU/mL (minimum: 50-maximum: 2.18x107 IU/mL), and the median HBV DNA level was found 2.50x102 IU/mL (minimum: 12-maximum: 1.70x108 IU/mL). In 8.1% of the patients both HCV RNA and HBV DNA were positive, and in 87.5% of cases HCV infection was dominant. The most important risk factor was hemodialysis (25%) in this group. Conclusion: This is the most detailed study which evaluates the prevalence of HBV/HCV coinfection in Turkey. HBV/HCV coinfection prevalence was not higher than HBV or HCV monoinfections. In cases where both HCV RNA and HBV DNA were positive, HCV was predominant.

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