Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) “A Possible Independent Risk Factor” for Coronary Artery Disease

Abstract

Background: HCV seropositivity has been linked to the presence of coronary artery disease (CAD).1 It is reported that HCV infection accelerates atherosclerosis.2-4 Controversy persists regarding the extent of independent or shared role of HCV infec-tion in the causation of CAD. Therefore we carried out this study to detect the prevalence of CAD among patients with HCV seropositivity.
Objective: To validate the Hypothesis weather HCV seropositivity is associated with CAD or not.
Study Design: Cross – Sectional Analytical type with consecutive sampling of patients with seropositivity for Anti – HCV antibodies. Who were diagnosed just before cardiac catheterization.
Study Place and Period: It was carried out at the department of Cardiology of Mayo Hospital Lahore from January 2006 to December 2008.
Patients and Methods: A total of 273 HCV seropositive patients were in the study group and 195 HCV negative who were age matched and had similar clinical presentation and were admitted at the same institution. All HCV positive patients were confirmed on Eliza. Coronary Angiography was done in all patients.
Results: Mean age of HCV+ patients was 49.388 ± 12.23 years and HCV- patients was 49.26 ± 9.45 years. In HCV+ patients who presented with chest pain, the prevalence of CAD was almost 91% while in HCV- group it was 78.46%.
Conclusion: Our study has shown an unambiguous and clear association between HCV infection and complex CAD. How-ever these results need to be confirmed in further longitudinal studies.
Key Words: HCV (Hepatitis C – Virus), CHD (Coronary Heart Disease), CAD (Coronary Artery Disease), DM – 2 (Dia-betes Mellitus Type – 2), ACS (Acute Coronary Syndrome).