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Review article: the extra‐skeletal effects of vitamin D in chronic hepatitis C infection
Author(s) -
Cholongitas E.,
Theocharidou E.,
Goulis J.,
Tsochatzis E.,
Akriviadis E.,
Burroughs A. K.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
alimentary pharmacology and therapeutics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.308
H-Index - 177
eISSN - 1365-2036
pISSN - 0269-2813
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2036.2012.05000.x
Subject(s) - medicine , vitamin d and neurology , liver transplantation , vitamin d deficiency , liver disease , vitamin , hepatitis c , gastroenterology , hepatitis , transplantation , viral hepatitis , chronic liver disease , immunology , cirrhosis
Summary Background Recent interest has focused on the extra‐skeletal effects of vitamin D , in particular, in patients with chronic hepatitis C . Aims To review data in the literature regarding the extra‐skeletal effects of vitamin D in patients with chronic hepatitis C, with and without liver transplantation. Methods A Medline search was performed for relevant studies up to August 2011 using the terms ‘vitamin D ’ ‘chronic liver disease’ and ‘hepatitis C ’. Results Vitamin D deficiency is very frequent before liver transplantation ranging between 51% and 92%, whereas, in the liver transplantation setting, the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency is also high. Severe liver disease may increase the risk of vitamin D deficiency and vice versa , as there may be a relationship between vitamin D deficiency and fibrosis. In patients with chronic hepatitis C and those with recurrent of hepatitis C after liver transplantation, recent clinical data shows that a higher serum vitamin D level is an independent predictor of sustained virological response ( SVR ) following anti‐viral therapy, and that a higher SVR is achieved with vitamin D supplementation. Conclusions Larger randomised clinical studies with adequate statistical power are needed to confirm these potentially very important nonskeletal effects of vitamin D in patients with chronic hepatitis C.