Frequency of Thyroid Dysfunction in Patients of Chronic Hepatitis C Treated with Interferon Alpha 2B and Ribavirin

Abstract

Objective: To determine the frequency of thyroid dysfunction in patients of chronic hepatitis C
treated with Interferon alpha 2b and Ribavirin.
Methods: A total of 120 cases having active hepatitis C assessed by HCV RNA PCR as per
operational definition for atleast 3 months between 15 years to 60 years of both gender were
included in the study from outdoor of Services Hospital Lahore after a written informed consent.
All the demographics including name, age, gender and address were entered in a pre-defined
questionnaire. Patients were treated with Interferon alpha 2b (dose) three million international
units subcutaneously three times a week and Ribavirin (dose) 1200 mg oral daily for 24 weeks. As
per hospital routine Thyroid dysfunction was evaluated as per operational definitions by collecting
4ml of blood in a 5cc syringe at 0 (baseline) and 12 week. Presence or absence of thyroid
dysfunction at 12 weeks was labelled as per operational definition.
Results: In our study, out of 120 cases, 42.5%(n=51) were between 15-40 years while 57.5%
(n=69) were between 41-60 years of age, mean±sd was calculated as 42.49±11.54 years,
59.17% (n=71) were male while 40.83% (n=49) were females, frequency of thyroid dysfunction in
patients of chronic hepatitis C treated with interferon alpha 2b and ribavirin was recorded in
21.67% (n=26).
Conclusion: We concluded that the frequency of thyroid dysfunction in patients of chronic
hepatitis C treated with Interferon alpha 2b and Ribavirin is not very high but reaches at a
considerable level and necessary steps should be taken for the management of this morbidity
while interferon therapy is given to the Hepatitis C virus cases.