Variables Associated with Cirrhosis Diagnosis in Patients with Chronic Hepatitis C: A Case-Control Study

Abstract

The diagnosis of liver cirrhosis in patients with chronic hepatitis C has not always been easy, since the gold standard method is the liver biopsy, which is an invasive procedure with interobserver accuracy problems and there have been reports of complications including records of deaths due to hemoperitoneum. Cirrhosis changes the prognosis of the subject with hepatitis C and requires a different clinical management. This study aimed to identify clinical and laboratory variables associated with the diagnosis of cirrhosis in the ultrasonography of patients infected with hepatitis C. In a case-control study, we evaluated 70 cirrhotic patients with chronic hepatitis C compared to a control group of 70 non-cirrhotic people with positive HCV. The results showed, through logistic regression analysis, that the variables blood donor and professional athlete, adjusted for alcohol consumption, showed OR 0.24 and 0.18, with p values of 0.044 and 0.035, respectively. We conclude that the diagnosis of cirrhosis in patients with chronic hepatitis C remains challenging, but the patients with the condition of blood donor or professional athlete prove to be less likely to cirrhosis in ultrasonography in the initial consultation.