Razi Journal of Medical Sciences

  Background & Aim: Viral hepatitis has existed since the creation of human. The estimated prevalence of hepatitis is about 3-5%. For patients with chronic hepatitis C and moderate to severe liver fibrosis, antiviral therapy is strongly suggested, while the cases without fibrosis or with mild liver fibrosis are often followed up without receiving antiviral therapy. The purpose of the present study was to assess laboratory factors associated with the severity of liver fibrosis in patients with chronic hepatitis B or C, so that the results could be used for the follow-up and management of the disease.

  Patients and Method: This cross-sectional study covered 109 patients with chronic hepatitis B or C who attended Hepatitis Clinic in Hamedan between 2000 and 2005. None of the cases had received antihepatitis treatment before the study. Patients suffering from co-infection of two or more types of hepatitis, immunodeficiency and chronic or incurable diseases were not included in the study. The data were analyzed by independent t-test, and correlation and univariant model.

  Results: The mean age of the cases was 36.70 years (SD=12.23). The mean duration of hepatitis infection was 3.77 years(SD=1.62). The most common liver fibrosis severity was stage I in 59 cases (54.1%) and then stage II in 24 cases (22%). The mean of liver fibrosis severity was 1.51 (SD= 1.16). There was a relation between liver fibrosis stage and three factors, namely age at the time of infection (Pv=0.034, r=0.203), duration of infection (Pv=0.006, r=-0.259) and platelet count (Pv=0.012, r=-0.24).However, there was no statistically significant relation between liver fibrosis severity and other assessed factors.

  Conclusion: Considering the findings of the present study and other reports, it seems that age at the time of infection, duration of infection and platelet count are the three crucial factors which bear a strong relation to liver fibrosis severity and, therefore, could be applied to create prognostic models in other studies.