Is hepatitis C associated with atherosclerotic burden? A systematic review and meta-analysis.

<h4>Background and aims</h4>Increasing evidence demonstrates that hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is associated with atherosclerosis. However, there are contrasting findings in several studies that the atherosclerotic burden is not associated with HCV infections. Therefore, we performe...

Descripción completa

Guardado en:
Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: He Huang, Rongyan Kang, Zhendong Zhao
Formato: article
Lenguaje:EN
Publicado: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2014
Materias:
R
Q
Acceso en línea:https://doaj.org/article/416d60e762c44447b419ddf28c18f79d
Etiquetas: Agregar Etiqueta
Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!
Descripción
Sumario:<h4>Background and aims</h4>Increasing evidence demonstrates that hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is associated with atherosclerosis. However, there are contrasting findings in several studies that the atherosclerotic burden is not associated with HCV infections. Therefore, we performed a meta-analysis to clarify if HCV infection is associated with atherosclerosis compared to non-infected people.<h4>Methods</h4>Standard guidelines for performance of meta-analysis were followed.<h4>Results</h4>A thorough database search performed by two independent investigators identified 14 eligible studies for analysis. The data from 11 studies were synthesized to report unadjusted odds ratios (ORs) for carotid atherosclerosis; the pooled unadjusted OR (95% confidence interval (CI)) was 1.65 (1.21, 2.09). By synthesizing the data from 8 studies to report adjusted ORs for carotid atherosclerosis the pooled multi-confounder adjusted OR (95% CI) was 1.76 (1.20, 2.32). However, the numbers of studies on coronary or femoral atherosclerosis were limited and not enough for analysis.<h4>Conclusions</h4>Our meta-analysis indicates that HCV infection is associated with carotid atherosclerosis independent of classical risk factors. Therefore, we would recommend for HCV infected patients to be counseled on their risk for carotid atherosclerosis.