Sustained Response to Interferon-based Therapy Reduces the Likelihood of Type
2 Diabetes
•
The overall
SVR rates were 47.6% for genotype 1 patients and 75.7% for those with genotypes
2 or 3.
•
The SVR rate
was significantly lower among patients with impaired fasting glucose or diabetes
than among those with normal glucose (44.0% vs 58.8%; P = 0.002).
•
However, there
were no significant difference in response among patients with different levels
of abnormal glucose (SVR 45.9% for those with 100-110 mg/dL, 42.2% for those with
110-125 mg/dL, 43.0% for those with > 126 mg/dL; P = 0.38).
•
During follow-up,
24.3% of non-responders had abnormal glucose levels, compared with 11.4% of sustained
responders (log-rank 13.8; P = 0.00002).
•
Reverse stepwise
logistic regression analysis identified the following as independent predictors
of developing impaired fasting glucose or diabetes:
•
Sustained treatment
response (OR 0.44; P = 0.004);
•
Higher fibrosis
stage (OR 1.46; P = 0.02).
Based
on these findings, the study authors concluded, "SVR reduces the risk of
liver steatosis, impaired fasting glucose and/or type 2 diabetes mellitus development
in patients with chronic hepatitis C, while altered glucose metabolism impairs
sustained response to viral treatment."
"The antiviral treatment
of hepatitis C infection, when successful in the eradication of the virus, induces
a decrease in the incidence of diabetes and/or impaired fasting glucose,"
they wrote. "The question of whether intervention using oral hypoglycaemic
drugs, or diet and exercise, improves the response rate in this group of patients
warrants further exploration."
6/24/08
Reference
M
Romero-Gomez, CM Fernandez-Rodriguez, RJ Andrade, and others. Effect of sustained
virological response to treatment on the incidence of abnormal glucose values
in chronic hepatitis C. Journal of Hepatology 48(5): 721-727. May 2008. |
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