Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2009 Aug;50(2):393-9.
doi: 10.1002/hep.23002.

Increased rate of death related to presence of viremia among hepatitis C virus antibody-positive subjects in a community-based cohort study

Hirofumi Uto  1 , Sherri O Stuver, Katsuhiro Hayashi, Kotaro Kumagai, Fumisato Sasaki, Shuji Kanmura, Masatsugu Numata, Akihiro Moriuchi, Susumu Hasegawa, Makoto Oketani, Akio Ido, Kazunori Kusumoto, Satoru Hasuike, Kenji Nagata, Michinori Kohara, Hirohito Tsubouchi
Affiliations

Increased rate of death related to presence of viremia among hepatitis C virus antibody-positive subjects in a community-based cohort study

Hirofumi Uto et al. Hepatology. 2009 Aug.

Abstract

The overall mortality of patients infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV) has not been fully elucidated. This study analyzed mortality in subjects positive for antibody to HCV (anti-HCV) in a community-based, prospective cohort study conducted in an HCV hyperendemic area of Japan. During a 10-year period beginning in 1995, 1125 anti-HCV-seropositive residents of Town C were enrolled into the study and were followed for mortality through 2005. Cause of death was assessed by death certificates. Subjects with detectable HCV core antigen (HCVcAg) or HCV RNA were considered as having hepatitis C viremia and were classified as HCV carriers; subjects who were negative for both HCVcAg and HCV RNA (i.e., viremia-negative) were considered as having had a prior HCV infection and were classified as HCV noncarriers. Among the anti-HCV-positive subjects included in the analysis, 758 (67.4%) were HCV carriers, and 367 were noncarriers. A total of 231 deaths occurred in these subjects over a mean follow-up of 8.2 years: 176 deaths in the HCV carrier group and 55 in the noncarrier group. The overall mortality rate was higher in HCV carriers than in noncarriers, adjusted for age and sex (hazard ratio, 1.53; 95% confidence interval, 1.13-2.07). Although liver-related deaths occurred more frequently among the HCV carriers (hazard ratio, 5.94; 95% confidence interval, 2.58-13.7), the rates of other causes of death did not differ between HCV carriers and noncarriers. Among HCV carriers, a higher level of HCVcAg (>or=100 pg/mL) and persistently elevated alanine aminotransferase levels were important predictors of liver-related mortality.

Conclusion: The presence of viremia increases the rate of mortality, primarily due to liver-related death, among anti-HCV-seropositive persons in Japan.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Cumulative incidence of all-cause deaths in HCV carriers and noncarriers.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

References

    1. Kenny-Walsh E, for the Irish hepatology research group Clinical outcomes after hepatitis C infection from contaminated Anti-D immune globulin. N Engl J Med. 1999;340:1228–1233. - PubMed
    1. Paraná R, Vitvitski L, Andrade Z, Trepo C, Cotrim H, Bertillon P, et al. Acute sporadic Non-A Non-B hepatitis in Northeastern Brazil: Etiology and natural history. Hepatology. 1999;30:289–293. - PubMed
    1. Alberti A, Chemello L, Benvegnu L. Natural history of hepatitis C. J Hepatol. 1999;31(Suppl.1):17–24. - PubMed
    1. Seeff LB. Natural history of chronic hepatitis C. Hepatology. 2002;36:S35–S46. - PubMed
    1. Hoofnagle JH. Course and outcome of hepatitis C. Hepatology. 2002;36:S21–S29. - PubMed

Publication types

Substances