The Effects Of Hepatitis C In Older Patients

Hepatitis C is an infectious disease that causes serious impairments inside the human body. In the absence of the appropriate treatment, patients diagnosed with hepatitis C are exposed to a high risk of developing permanent liver damage even malignant tumors (liver cirrhosis). While younger patients with hepatitis C are less likely to develop severe complications, older patients often experience permanent aggravation of their symptoms and are exposed to a very high risk of developing liver cancer. In order to reveal the severity and implications of hepatitis C, as well as the efficiency of existing antiviral therapies among older patients, medical scientists have recently conducted a series of studies and experiments.

A team of French medical researchers has recently conducted a study on hepatitis C patients with ages over 65. The study involved the participation of around 38,000 patients with hepatitis C and was performed at Pitie-Salpetriere Hospital in Paris. The purpose of the study consisted in finding relevant data on the severity of hepatitis C among older patients, as well as the efficiency of today’s medical treatments for hepatitis C. In addition, the efficiency of a series of biochemical markers such as FibroTest, FibroSure and ActiTest was also considered over the entire period of the study. Medical researchers were hoping to reveal if such fibrosis tests can be considered an efficient alternative to traditional forms of liver biopsy.

The study participants

ere divided in two separate groups. The first group included around 4,000 patients with hepatitis C, while the second group included around 34,000 hepatitis C sufferers who also received FibroTest, FibroSure or ActiTest in the past. In the two combined study groups there were more than 7,000 hepatitis C patients with ages over 65.

After analyzing the reports of the patients in both study groups, the team of medical researchers has obtained a series of interesting results. In the first study group, patients with ages over 65 had a longer duration of hepatitis C virus infection, and were very likely to present signs of genotype 1 HCV. The majority of older patients in the first group had received blood transfusions prior to 1990, and the suspected source of their infection was transfusion with infected blood. Regardless of the overall duration of infection, fibrosis was very common among patients aged 65 or more who had received liver biopsies in the past. Around 200 patients aged 65 or more benefited from antiviral therapy during their lives and 45 percent of elderly patients who were treated with ribavirin and pegylated interferon presented sustained virological response.

In the second study group, among the patients who received FibroTest, FibroSure or Actitest, 58 percent of patients with ages over 80 were diagnosed with cirrhosis, while only 37 percent of patients aged 65-80 and 14 percent of patients with ages under 65 presented signs of cirrhosis. In addition, patients with ages over 80 had better chances to present normal alanine aminotransferase (ALT) than patients with ages under 65.

After carefully analyzing and interpreting the study findings, medical researchers have stated that hepatitis C is more severe and involves lower alanine aminotransferase in patients with ages over 65. The study has also revealed that the existing hepatitis treatments are efficient and that tests with biochemical markers can successfully replace traditional liver biopsy.



By: Groshan Fabiola