Interim analysis of the natural history of chronic hepatitis C genotype 1 and 6

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Data on the natural history of Chronic Hepati-tis C (HCV) genotype 6 is lacking. We compared the naturalhistory of 141 patients with HCV genotype 1 (median age: 50)and 80 patients with HCV genotype 6 (median age: 47.5).Baseline demographic data including gender ratio, route oftransmission, liver biochemistry, serial alanine aminotransferase(ALT) levels and HCV-RNA levels, as well as the rate of HCV-related complications were analyzed. RESULTS: 72.3% ofgenotype 1 patients were infected through blood transfusion,8.5% from intravenous drug addiction, compared with 56.2%and 28.8% for genotype 6 patients (p<0.05). There were nodifferences in the baseline liver biochemistry in terms of ALT,albumin, bilirubin, alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) and HCV-RNAbetween both groups (p>0.05). Comparison of the proportionof normal and abnormal ALT levels within both groups showedno statistical difference (p=0.215). There was also no differ-ence in the cumulative risk of development of cirrhotic compli-cations and hepatocellular carcinoma between both groups(p=0.468). CONCLUSION: HCV genotype 1 patients werelargely infected through blood transfusion, while a statisticallylarger proportion of genotype 6 patients were intravenous drugaddicts. Both genotypes share a similar course of natural history.