HCV antibody status in elderly Japanese

Autor: Yoshihide Nakayama, Tatsuji Niimi, Toshiyuki Yamamoto, Tomoyuki Kumai, Toshihiko Takeuchi, Naoya Katoh, Katsuhiko Tsukada, Makoto Hoshino
Rok vydání: 1993
Předmět:
Zdroj: International Hepatology Communications. 1:183-187
ISSN: 0928-4346
DOI: 10.1016/0928-4346(93)90037-g
Popis: The incidence of HCV positivity and its relation to surgical and disease history was studied in elderly Japanese. The subjects included 230 individuals (97 men and 133 women) aged 60 to 102 years (mean: 79.2 years), and anti-HCV positivity was found in 42 cases (18.3%). More than 10% of the subjects in each age decade were anti-HCV positive, with the highest rate seen in the 60–69-year-old group (31.0%). No age-related differences in anti-HCV titer were observed. Twenty-eight of 32 subjects examined were HCV-RNA positive and analysis of HCV-RNA status revealed that most anti-HCV-positive subjects had a persistent HCV infection. About 60% of the anti-HCV-positive subjects had undergone surgery, supporting the conclusion that horizontal transmission via surgery or blood transfusion was an important route of HCV transmission. Liver dysfunction was noted in 33.3% of the anti-HCV-positive subjects, always in association with the presence of HCV RNA. Liver cirrhosis was diagnosed for two subjects, but no liver cancers were detected. One of two autopsied cases, a 91-year-old female who had undergone surgery 20 years before, showed characteristic features of chronic persistent hepatitis in spite of normal liver function tests before death. Our findings suggest that not only long-term monitoring for liver cirrhosis and liver cancer but also attention to the infection risk of transmission to others is needed in the care of elderly anti-HCV-positive individuals.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
Externí odkaz: