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 at least 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 dailyfor24 weeks. As per hospital routine Thyroid dysfunction was evaluated as per operational definitions bycollecting4ml 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