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Hepatitis C Virus-related chronic liver disease in elderly patients: an Italian cross-sectional study

2009; Wiley; Volume: 17; Issue: 5 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1111/j.1365-2893.2009.01189.x

1365-2893

Annagiulia Gramenzi, Fabio Conti, F. Felline, C. Cursaro, A. Riili, M. Salerno, Stefano Gitto, L. Micco, Angelo Scuteri, Pietro Andreoné, Mauro Bernardi,

Liver Disease and Transplantation

Chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection has been poorly investigated in the elderly. The aim of this study was to identify the age-specific characteristics of chronic hepatitis C by comparing patients > or =65 years with those or =65 years had advanced liver disease (liver cirrhosis or hepatocellular carcinoma) compared with 26% younger patients (P < 0.0001). About half of the patients > or =65 years were not aware of their anti-HCV positive status, even if they tended to be more symptomatic than the younger group. By multivariate analysis, age > or = 65 years, alcohol consumption and diabetes were independently associated with advanced liver disease. Overall, 34 out of 174 patients (20%) > or =65 years had received antiviral treatment compared with 122 out of 386 (32%) younger patients (P = 0.003). Our results further emphasize the notion that chronic hepatitis C is becoming a disease of the elderly and that elderly patients with chronic HCV infection often have severe and underestimated disease.