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Hepatitis C virus infection causes hypolipidemia regardless of hepatic damage or nutritional state: An epidemiological survey of a large Japanese cohort
Author(s) -
Miyazaki Teruo,
Honda Akira,
Ikegami Tadashi,
Saitoh Yoshifumi,
Hirayama Takeshi,
Hara Takashi,
Doy Mikio,
Matsuzaki Yasushi
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
hepatology research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.123
H-Index - 75
eISSN - 1872-034X
pISSN - 1386-6346
DOI - 10.1111/j.1872-034x.2011.00803.x
Subject(s) - medicine , epidemiology , hepatitis c virus , cohort , hepatocellular carcinoma , body mass index , gastroenterology , triglyceride , alanine transaminase , cohort study , cholesterol , immunology , physiology , virus
Aim: Infection with hepatitis C virus (HCV) is the leading cause of liver cirrhosis that develops into hepatocellular carcinoma. Previous studies have shown in vitro that lipids within hepatocytes are crucially important for a series of HCV infection–proliferation–release processes. On the other hand, in the patients with HCV, the serum total cholesterol (Total‐C) and low‐density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL‐C) levels have been reported to be lower. We conducted an epidemiological survey of a large cohort and investigated whether the lower serum lipid levels were caused by a direct or the secondary effects of HCV infection (i.e. hepatic damage or nutritional disorder). Methods: Among 146 857 participants (male, 34%; female, 66%) undergoing public health examinations between 2002 and 2007 in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan, the HCV positive rates determined by HCV antibody/antigen and/or RNA tests were 1.37% and 0.67% in males and females, respectively. Results: In addition to Total‐C and LDL‐C, serum high‐density lipoprotein cholesterol and triglyceride concentrations were also significantly lower in the HCV positive subjects compared with the negative subjects, regardless of sex, age or nutritional state evaluated by body mass index. Multivariate analysis showed that HCV infection was the strongest among the factors to be significantly associated with the lower level of these lipids. Particularly, the hypolipidemia was also confirmed in the HCV positive subjects with normal aminotransferase levels (alanine aminotransferase ≤30 and aspartate aminotransferase ≤30). Conclusion: This epidemiological survey in a large Japanese cohort suggests that the HCV infection itself might directly cause hypolipidemia, irrespective of host factors including age, hepatic damage and nutritional state.