Systemic autoimmune diseases in patients with hepatitis C virus infection: Characterization of 1020 cases (the HISPAMEC registry)
Ramos-casals M et al. – Study reports that the most common systemic autoimmune diseases (SAD) reported in association with chronic HCV infection were Sjögren’s syndrome (SS), rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). In these patients, ANA, RF and cryoglobulins are the predominant immunological features. Methods- Aim was to describe the clinical and immunologic characteristics of a large series of pts with SAD associated with HCV infection
- HISPAMEC Registry: a multicenter international study group dedicated to collecting data on pts diagnosed with SAD with serological evidence of chronic HCV infection
Results- 1,020 HCV pts with SAD; pts were reported from Southern Europe, North America, Asia, Northern Europe, South America, and Australia
- Countries reporting the most cases were Spain, France, Italy, USA, and Japan
- Most frequently reported SAD were SS, RA and SLE, polyarteritis nodosa, antiphospholipid syndrome, inflammatory myopathies, and sarcoidosis
- 20 pts had ≥2 SAD; epidemiological data were available in 677 cases
- 72% pts were female, with a mean age of 49.5 yrs at SAD diagnosis and 50.5 yrs at diagnosis of HCV infection
- Main immunologic features were ANA in 61% of pts, RF in 57%, hypocomplementemia in 52%, and cryoglobulins in 52%
- Main differential aspect between primary and HCV-related SAD was the predominance of cryoglobulinemic-related markers over specific SAD-related markers in pts with HCV
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