Gallbladder Stone Disease among Patients with Chronic Hepatitis C Virus Infection

Background: Gallbladder stone disease (GSD) is a major public Health problem. Although liver cirrhosis is a well documented risk factor of GSD, little is known about the frequency of GSD among the patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. Aim: To determine the frequency and risk factors of Gallbladder stone disease (GSD) among patients with chronic hepatitis C infection. Material and Methods: The study was conducted on patients with chronic HCV infection admitted to Tropical Medicine and Gastroenterology Department, Assiut University Hospital during the Period from November 2010 to December 2011 and patients without HCV infection attending Tropical Medicine and Gastroenterology Clinic, Assiut University Hospital. The study included 48 patients (29 males, 19 females) with chronic HCV infection and 192 patients (113 males, 79 females) without HCV infection. For all participants, the following was conducted: Clinical evaluation (Medical History and Physical Examination), abdominal ultrasonographic examination, and laboratory investigations including estimation of fasting serum level of glucose, lipid profile [fasting serum levels of cholesterol, low density lipoprotein (LDL)-cholesterol, high density lipoprotein (HDL)-cholesterol, and triglycerides], liver profile [serum levels of bilirubin, albumin, alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), and alkaline phosphatase (ALP)], prothrombin time, and complete blood count. Results: The frequency of GSD among patients with chronic HCV infection was 25% while it was 15.1% among the subjects without HCV infection. The metabolic syndrome (Odds ratio was 33 and 95% confidence interval was 3-424) and glucose intolerance (Odds ratio was 12 and 95% confidence interval was 1-133) were significantly, independently associated with GSD among patients with chronic HCV infection. Conclusion: The frequency of GSD is more among patients with chronic HCV infection than among HCV-negative subjects. Among patients with chronic HCV infection, risk factors for GSD are the metabolic syndrome and glucose intolerance.