Incidence of thyroid dysfunction among chronic hepatitis c egyptian patients treated with interferon ribavirin therapy

Abstract EN

Background/Aim: The use of pegylated interferon-alpha (IFN-a) and ribavirin is still an integral part of the standard of care treatment of chronic hepatitis C (CHC) in Egypt until the present time, even after introducing the new era of direct acting antiviral drugs.

Such regimens are accompanied by the production of autoantibodies that carries the risk of development of thyroid dysfunction (TD).

The study tries to describe the incidence, long-term outcome, and predictors of TD among Egyptian patients with CHC receiving IFN-based treatment.

Patients and Methods: Between January 2013 and August 2014, a prospective study design was conducted to include naive CHC patients (virologically and histopathologically proved) enrolled for INF- based therapy with normal thyroid function profile.

Results: A total of 400 patients (mean age was 37.4±9.6 years, 18% were females) >vere included.

At the end of the study period, 12.3% of patients (n=49) developed biochemical TD (TSH<0.3 or >5.0 mlU/L).

At the 12th week after the end of antiviral therapy, 67.3% of them (n=33) were spontaneously normalized.

At the 24lh week, 14.3% of the remaining (n=7) had spontaneously normalized.

Female gender was significantly associated with the development of TD.

Conclusions: The incidence of TD among the Egyptian patients treated by INF-based antiviral therapy for CHC is not low and more predominant in females.

Spontaneous recovery after the end of treatment was common however, it entails a strict follow up.