|
|
Prepublished online as a Blood First Edition Paper on April 17, 2002; DOI 10.1182/blood-2001-12-0192.
 Previous Article | Table of Contents | Next Article 
Blood, 15 June 2002, Vol. 99, No. 12, pp. 4588-4591
TRANSFUSION MEDICINE
Age at infection affects the long-term outcome of
transfusion-associated chronic hepatitis C
Eliseo Minola,
Daniele Prati,
Fredy Suter,
Franco Maggiolo,
Flavio Caprioli,
Aurelio Sonzogni,
Mirella Fraquelli,
Silvia Paggi, and
Dario Conte
From the Infectious Diseases Unit, Ospedali Riuniti,
Bergamo, Italy; and Blood Transfusion and Transplantation Immunology
Center and Postgraduate School of Gastroenterology, both of IRCCS
Ospedale Maggiore, Milan, Italy.
Before the introduction of hepatitis C virus (HCV) screening for
blood donors, the risk of acquiring HCV infection as a result of a
transfusion was about 10%. The aim of this study was to assess the
frequency and rate of progression to cirrhosis in patients with
transfusion-associated chronic HCV infection and identify possibly
negative prognostic factors. Of 2477 consecutive patients with clinical
or laboratory evidence of liver disease, 392 (16%) were anti-HCV- and
HCV-RNA-positive, had anamnestic evidence of a single and precisely
dated transfusion event, and showed no other causes of chronic liver
disease; 268 (68%) underwent ultrasound-guided liver biopsy and
were enrolled in the study. After a mean interval of 18.4 years, 54 patients (20.1%) had cirrhosis, which multivariate analysis showed to
be independently associated with the duration of follow-up, age at
infection and at the time of liver biopsy, and serum alanine
aminotransferase levels at biopsy. The time necessary to have a 50%
probability of developing cirrhosis in patients aged 21-30, 31-40, and
more than 40 years was 33, 23, and 16 years, respectively. In
comparison with those aged 20 years or less at infection, the risk
ratio of developing cirrhosis over a period of 30 years for patients
aged 21-30 and at least 31 years at infection was, respectively, 4.51 (95% confidence interval, 1.03-19.76) and 12.29 (95% confidence
interval, 3.06-49.40). In patients with transfusion-associated chronic
hepatitis C, the risk of cirrhosis is related to age at infection and
disease activity. Our findings suggest that an aggressive therapeutic
approach should be adopted in patients infected by HCV at an older age
to prevent the progression to end-stage liver disease.
 CiteULike  Connotea  Del.icio.us  Digg  Reddit  Technorati What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
|
|
 
D. Posthouwer, M. Makris, T. T. Yee, K. Fischer, J. J. van Veen, A. Griffioen, K. J. van Erpecum, and E. P. Mauser-Bunschoten
Progression to end-stage liver disease in patients with inherited bleeding disorders and hepatitis C: an international, multicenter cohort study
Blood,
May 1, 2007;
109(9):
3667 - 3671.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I Bakr, C Rekacewicz, M El Hosseiny, S Ismail, M El Daly, S El-Kafrawy, G Esmat, M A Hamid, M K Mohamed, and A Fontanet
Higher clearance of hepatitis C virus infection in females compared with males
Gut,
August 1, 2006;
55(8):
1183 - 1187.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
S. Castellino, S. Lensing, C. Riely, S. N. Rai, R. Davila, R. T. Hayden, J. Fleckenstein, M. Levstik, S. Taylor, P. J. Dean, et al.
The epidemiology of chronic hepatitis C infection in survivors of childhood cancer: an update of the St Jude Children's Research Hospital hepatitis C seropositive cohort
Blood,
April 1, 2004;
103(7):
2460 - 2466.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
|
|
|
| |
