{"id":848,"date":"2012-09-05T10:17:56","date_gmt":"2012-09-05T10:17:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.better2know.co.uk\/?p=848"},"modified":"2021-05-18T09:52:05","modified_gmt":"2021-05-18T09:52:05","slug":"hepatitis-c-increases-the-risk-of-liver-and-non-liver-related-deaths","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.better2know.co.uk\/blog\/hepatitis-c-increases-the-risk-of-liver-and-non-liver-related-deaths\/","title":{"rendered":"Hepatitis C increases risk of liver and non-liver related death"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Overall mortality from both liver-related disease and non-liver conditions &#8212; including some cancers is significantly increased in people with chronic <a href=\"https:\/\/www.better2know.co.uk\/std-sti-testing\/hepatitis-c\">hepatitis C<\/a> virus (HCV) infection compared with uninfected individuals, according to a study published in the July 17, 2012, advance online edition of the Journal of Infectious Diseases, according to the Hepatitis C Trust, a charity for people with Hepatitis C, based in London.<\/p>\n<p>Over years or decades, chronic hepatitis C can progress to serious liver disease including cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma, and end-stage liver failure. But the effect of HCV infection on non-liver-related illness and death has not been extensively studied.<\/p>\n<p>Mei-Hsuan Lee from Academia Sinica in Taipei, Chien-Jen Chen from the Genomic Research Center, and fellow investigators with the R.E.V.E.A.L.-HCV Study Group looked at associations between HCV infection and liver-related and non-liver deaths.<\/p>\n<p>The researchers assessed the presence of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), antibodies against HCV, and serum HCV RNA viral load levels at study entry. After excluding individuals with hepatitis B or HIV co-infection, the analysis included 18,541 HCV antibody negative and 1095 HCV antibody positive people.<\/p>\n<p>Information about deaths was obtained by computerized linkage to national death certificate data from 1991 to 2008.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Results<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Among HCV antibody positive participants, 69.4% had detectable serum HCV RNA.<\/li>\n<li>A total of 2394 deaths occurred during an average follow-up period of 16.2 years.<\/li>\n<li>People who were HCV antibody positive had higher mortality rates due to both liver-related and non-liver (extrahepatic) diseases compared with HCV antibody negative people.<\/li>\n<li>In a multivariate analysis, the adjusted hazard ratio (HR) for all causes of death was 1.89, or nearly double the risk.<\/li>\n<li>The adjusted HR for liver-related death was 12.48, or more than 12-fold higher risk.<\/li>\n<li>The adjusted HR for extrahepatic death was a much lower but still significant 1.35.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>HCV infection was associated with increased risk for several extrahepatic causes of death:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Thyroid cancer: adjusted HR 8.22;<\/li>\n<li>Prostate cancer: adjusted HR 4.19;<\/li>\n<li>Esophageal cancer: adjusted HR 4.08;<\/li>\n<li>Kidney disease (nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, or nephrosis): adjusted HR 2.77;<\/li>\n<li>Circulatory system diseases: adjusted HR 1.50.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>HCV antibody positive people with detectable HCV RNA had significantly higher mortality from both liver-related and extrahepatic diseases than those with undetectable viral load.<\/p>\n<p>Further analysis showed that people with HCV antibodies but undetectable HCV RNA had mortality rates statistically similar to those of uninfected individuals.<\/p>\n<p>Based on these findings, the study authors concluded that close monitoring of people with detectable HCV antibodies or genetic material &#8220;is essential for the prediction of mortality associated with hepatitis C.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>This study indicates that even chronic hepatitis C patients with no symptoms have a higher likelihood of death, and that treatment that reduces HCV viral load may lower mortality, underling the importance of timely HCV testing and therapy.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The findings implied that the serum HCV RNA level is an important marker for clinical decisions in the management of HCV-infected patients,&#8221; Chen said in a press release issued by the Infectious Diseases Society of America, which publishes the journal.<\/p>\n<p>In an accompanying editorial, Kenrad Nelson from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health pointed out that overall mortality was significantly higher among HCV-infected compared with uninfected individuals even when looking at people from the same communities, thereby minimizing potential bias.<\/p>\n<p>Better2Know can <a href=\"https:\/\/www.better2know.co.uk\/std-sti-testing\/hepatitis-c\">test for Hepatitis C<\/a> just 10 days after potential exposure with a simple blood test at all of its nationwide STD Testing clinics.\u00a0 With results the same day that the sample is received in the laboratory.\u00a0 Hepatitis C testing is available as part of our Platinum and Early Detection Screens as well as on its own.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Overall mortality from both liver-related disease and non-liver conditions &#8212; including some cancers is significantly increased in people with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection compared with uninfected individuals, according to a study published in the July 17, 2012, advance online edition of the Journal of Infectious Diseases, according to the Hepatitis C Trust, a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes"},"categories":[17,14],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[947,949,945,946,951,824,950,948,1604],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.better2know.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/848"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.better2know.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.better2know.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.better2know.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.better2know.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=848"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.better2know.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/848\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6219,"href":"https:\/\/www.better2know.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/848\/revisions\/6219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.better2know.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.better2know.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.better2know.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=848"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.better2know.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}