Prevalence and clinical presentations of hepatitis C virus among patients admitted to the rheumatology ward

Abstract

To study the prevalence of anti-HCV antibodies among patients admitted to the rheumatology department, Cairo University hospitals, in 6-month period as well as to determine whether chronic HCV infection was the primary cause of their admission or just a concomitant association with the rheumatic disease. One hundred and fifty-seven patients were included in this study. They represent all patients admitted to the rheumatology inpatient department of Cairo University hospitals during the study period. Preset questionnaire including detailed demographic data, cause of admission and clinical manifestations of their disease was obtained for every patient. All patients were screened for HCV antibodies using ELISA technique. Other laboratory and imaging investigations were done according to the patient's diagnosis. Twenty-nine patients (18.5%) were positive for HCV antibody. Eleven patients of them (38%) were admitted due to rheumatic manifestations directly related to chronic HCV infection, which represent 7% of all admitted patients (11/157). HCV antibodies were found in 17.6 and 6.7% among patients with rheumatoid and systemic lupus erythematosus. Arthritis, palpaple purpura, digital gangrene and mononeuritis multiplex were the most common causes of admission related to chronic HCV infection. HCV antibodies were found in 18.5% among admitted patients to the rheumatology ward. The rheumatic manifestations of chronic HCV represent the primary cause of admission in 7% of all admitted patients. HCV screening should be included in the routine investigations for patients presenting to rheumatology departments in countries with high prevalence of chronic HCV infection.

Prevalence and impact of chronic hepatitis C virus infection on the clinical manifestations and disease activity among patients suffering from systemic lupus erythematosus

“…HCV antibodies were present in 20/98 (20.4%) SLE patients (HCV/SLE group), and were absent in 78/98 (79.6%) patients (non-HCV/SLE), of them active viremia (HCV-RNA) was detected in 8/98 (40% of the HCV antibody positive and 8.2% of the studied SLE patients) while the viremia was below the detection level in 12 (60%) of the positive HCV antibody patients. In a recent study in our department, HCV antibodies were found in 6.7% among patients with SLE admitted to the rheumatology ward, Cairo University Hospitals, Egypt [6]. This finding indicated that most patients of SLE and associated anti-HCV antibodies were recruited from the outpatient clinic and that the association between HCV infection and SLE does not imply increased SLE disease [12,29,30].…”

“…Viruses in general and HCV in particular has been proposed as possible etiologic or triggering factors of many systemic autoimmune rheumatic diseases; most of the previous studies discussed the rheumatic manifestations as a part of the extrahepatic manifestations of chronic HCV infection [6,[24][25][26][27][28]. In this study we studied the prevalence of HCV antibodies among patients with SLE and evaluated the impact of the presence of chronic HCV infection on the SLE disease expression, through comparison of the demographic data, clinical manifestations and disease activity (SLEDAI score) among patients with HCV/SLE and non-HCV/SLE.…”

“…In a recent study, HCV antibodies were found in 18.5% among admitted patients to the rheumatology ward, Cairo University Hospitals, Egypt. The rheumatic manifestations of chronic HCV represent the primary cause of admission in 7% of all the admitted patients in that department [6].…”

Role of LncRNA-AF085935, IL-10 and IL-17 in Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients With Chronic Hepatitis C

“…The relationship between HCV and rheumatic diseases is complex and represents both a diagnostic and therapeutic problem to rheumatologists [41]. Management of RA is complicated with the highly significant difference regarding prevalence of HCV in Egyptians.…”

Manifestações musculoesqueléticas associadas à hepatite C crônica

“…O Egito tem possivelmente a prevalência mais alta do HCV no mundo, pois o anti-HCV está presente em 11% a 14% da população, ou 8 a 10 milhões de habitantes, dos quais 5 a 7 milhões têm viremia ativa. Nos Estados Unidos, a prevalência do anti-HCV é de aproximadamente 1,6% (El Garf et al, 2012;Armstrong et al, 2006).…”