prevalence of thrombocytopenia in patients with chronic hepatitis B and C

ABSTRACT

Thrombocytopenia is a relatively common extrahepatic manifestation of hepatitis c,even in the absence of cirrhosis.Also, thrombocytopenia has been reported in chronic HBV infection. The aims of present study were to evaluate the prevalence of thrombocytopenia in chronic HCV and HBV infection in the absence of cirrhosis and to assess the relationship between HBV and HCV infection and frequency of thrombocytopenia. 438 patients [219 patients with chronic active hepatitis B and 123 inactive carriers of HBV and 96 patients with chronic HCV infection] were enrolled in this study. Thrombocytopenia was defined as platelet counts below 150,000/microl. The prevalence of thrombocytopenia was 17.7% in patients with chronic active hepatitis B and 10.6% in HBV inactive carriers, 13.3% in patients with chronic hepatitis C and 5.3% in control group. The prevalence of thrombocytopenia in chronic hepatitis B and C was significantly more than control group. These results in Iran, with 2-3 million people with chronic HBV infection and around 400,000 with chronic HCV infection shows that HBV and HCV infections, even in the absence of cirrhosis, may be two causes of thrombocytopenia