Does Hepatitis C Virus Infection is a Relevant Factor for Thyroid Dysfunction

Abstract

Because hepatitis C virus can replicate in cells other than hepatocytes, more than 5% of infected patients develop during the course of the disease at least one extrahepatic manifestations. Objective: Determination of the seropositivity rate of anti-HCV antibody among patients with thyroid dysfunction in Diyala province. Materials and methods: The present study was conducted from September/2008 to October/2009. 122 patients who presented with abnormal thyroid function tests. 29 (23.3%) of them were males with mean age 35.4 ± 19.0 years and 93 (76.7% ) were females with mean age 37.5±11.5 years. Additionally, 117 normal healthy blood donors were included as control group, the mean age 32.3 ± 8.7 years. Anti-HCV antibody was detected by ELISA technique. Repeatedly positive sera were confirmed by immunoblot assay. Data were statistically analyzed. Results: The preliminary results showed that the anti-HCV seropositivity rate among patients was insignificantly higher than controls (1.6% and 0.8%) respectively. Male and female were equally infected (50%). The age of infected male was 56 years, while the age of infected female was 47 years. Conclusion: Hepatitis C virus infection is not a risk factor for the development of thyroid dysfunction.