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Multicenter study on hepatitis C virus infection in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy
Author(s) -
Prati Daniele,
Poli Francesca,
Farma Elena,
Picone Alessandra,
Porta Eliana,
De Mattei Claudia,
Zanella Alberto,
Scalamogna Mario,
Gamba Amando,
Gronda Edoardo,
Faggian Giuseppe,
Livi Ugo,
Puricelli Cesare,
Viganò Mario,
Sirchia Girolamo
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
journal of medical virology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.782
H-Index - 121
eISSN - 1096-9071
pISSN - 0146-6615
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1096-9071(199906)58:2<116::aid-jmv3>3.0.co;2-u
Subject(s) - medicine , dilated cardiomyopathy , heart transplantation , epidemiology , hepatitis c virus , heart disease , cohort , serology , cardiomyopathy , hepatitis c , cardiology , heart failure , gastroenterology , virus , immunology , antibody
Preliminary epidemiological and histological studies from Japan suggested that hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection has a role in the development of dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). This multicenter study was conducted to verify this hypothesis on a large cohort of Italian patients with end‐stage heart failure. Antibodies to HCV were determined in the 752 consecutive patients (608 males and 144 females; age, 53 ± 13 years) who entered the waiting list for cardiac transplantation from 1995 to 1997 at the six cardiac surgery centers participating in the North Italy Transplant program. Three hundred and nine patients (41%) had dilated, 9 (1%) restrictive, and 4 (0.5%) hypertrophic cardiomyopathy; 284 patients (38%) had ischemic, 65 (9%) valvular, and 22 (3%) congenital heart disease; 5 patients (0.5%) had primary pulmonary hypertension; 54 patients (7%) had other or nonspecified heart disease. Overall, 41 of 752 patients (5.4%) resulted anti‐HCV–reactive. Serological evidence of HCV infection was found in 12 of 309 patients with DCM (3.9%; 95% CI, 1.7–6.0), and in 29 of 443 without DCM (6.5%; 95% CI, 4.2–8.8), without statistical dif‐ ference (difference of prevalence rate: 2.6%; 95% CI, ‐4.9 to 5.8). In conclusion, HCV does not seem to have a primary role in the pathogenesis of DCM. However, since our findings are in disagreement with those obtained in smaller series of patients of other ethnicity, large studies from different countries should be conducted. J. Med. Virol. 58:116–120, 1999. © 1999 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.