Clinical study on the correlation between hepatitis C and thyroid dysfunction

Abstract:

Objective To explore the correlation between chronic hepatitis C（CHC） and thyroid dysfunction（TD），and the predictors of TD induced by hepatitis C.Methods A total of 95 patients diagnosed with CHC in The First People's Hospital of Yunnan Province from June 2018 to December 2021 were selected， and they were divided into low hepatitis C virus（HCV）-RNA group（<10⁵ IU/mL） （37 cases） and high HCV-RNA group（>10⁵ IU/mL）（47 cases），according to their HCV-RNA expression level. And 41 healthy controls were selected randomly from whom made the physical examination in our hospital at the same period. Relevant laboratory indicators， including thyroid stimulating hormone（TSH），thyroxine（T4），triiodothyronine（T3），free thyroxine（FT4），free triiodothyronine （FT3），aspartate transaminase（AST），alanine aminotransferase（ALT），alkaline phosphatase（ALP），total bilirubin（TBIL），direct bilirubin（DBIL），total protein（TP），albumin（ALB），globulin（GLB），blood urea nitrogen（BUN），creatinine（Cr），and glucose（G），were collected to explore the relationship between thyroid hormone and related biochemical indicators and HCV-RNA load in CHC patients. According to whether they had TD or not， they were divided into hepatitis C group and hepatitis C combined with TD group. Fourteen cases of hepatitis C combined with TD group and 15 cases of hepatitis C group were selected，and 15 cases of healthy people were randomly selected as the control group. The laboratory indicators of the three groups were statistically analyzed.Results Among 95 patients with CHC，15 patients were complicated with TD，and the detection rate was 15.79%. Compared with the control group，the low HCV-RNA group and the high HCV-RNA group were significantly different in T4，T3，FT4，FT3，AST，ALT，DBIL，ALB and GLB（P<0.05）. Disordered multiple logistic regression analysis showed that GLB（OR=1.379，95%CI=1.060-1.5793，P<0.05） might be a predictor of increased viral load. Compared with the control group，GLB（OR=1.425，95%CI=1.094-1.856，P<0.05） could be a predictor， FT3 （OR=3.543， 95%CI=1.472-8.356，P<0.05） could be a predictor. There were significant differences in TSH，FT4，FT3，AST，ALT，ALP，ALB and GLB among the control group， hepatitis C group and hepatitis C combined with TD group（P<0.05）.Conclusion The level of viral load in patients with CHC is related to the level of thyroid hormone， which has certain guiding significance for clinical practice.