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Effect of sustained virological response to treatment on the incidence of abnormal glucose values in chronic hepatitis C.

Romero-Gómez M, Fernández-Rodríguez CM, Andrade RJ, Diago M, Alonso S, Planas R, Solá R, Pons JA, Salmerón J, Barcena R, Perez R, Carmona I, Durán S

Unit for the Clinical Management of Digestive Diseases and CIBEREHD, Hospital Universitario de Valme, Seville, Spain. mromerog@supercable.es

BACKGROUND/AIMS: To investigate the effect of sustained virological response (SVR) on impaired fasting glucose (IFG) and/or type 2 diabetes (T2DM); to assess the influence of glucose abnormalities on the SVR rate. METHODS: 1059 patients with chronic HCV; normal glucose (< 100 mg/dl) in 734, IFG (between 100 and 125 mg/dl) in 218, and T2DM (126 mg/dl) in 107 cases, were treated with interferon plus ribavirin over 24 or 48 weeks, depending on viral genotype. RESULTS: The SVR rate was lower in patients with IFG and/or T2DM than in patients with normal glucose concentrations [143/325 (44%) vs. 432/734 (58.8%); P=0.002]. In the follow-up, abnormal glucose concentrations were observed in 74 of 304 (24.3%) non-responders and in 49 of 430 (11.4%) sustained responders (log-rank: 13.8; P=0.00002). Reverse stepwise logistic regression analysis identified the independent variables predictive of IFG or T2DM development as: sustained response (OR: 0.44; 95%CI=0.20-0.97; P=0.004) and fibrosis stage (OR: 1.46; 95%CI=1.06-2.01;P=0.02). Family history of DM, steatosis, gender, HCV viral load, genotype, triglycerides, cholesterol and BMI did not enter the multivariate analysis equation. CONCLUSIONS: SVR reduces the risk of IFG and/or T2DM development in patients with chronic hepatitis C while altered glucose metabolism impairs sustained response to viral treatment.

Published 27 March 2008 in J Hepatol, 48(5): 721-7.
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