Increased frequency of HCV and HBV infection in type 2 diabetic patients.

The aim of our study was to verify if the diabetic population can be considered at risk for HBV (B hepatitis virus) and/or HCV (C hepatitis virus) correlated viral hepatitis. We examined 1514 diabetic patients, 668 males and 846 females. In patients who had, on at least two occasions, pathological transaminase values (AST and/or ALT), the markers for HBV and HCV infection were determined. Of the 1514 patients studied, 295 (19.48%) had pathological values of ALT and /or AST. Among the hypertransaminase patients (295), 69 were not tested for the markers because they refused to give informed consent; of the remaining 226 patients, 54 were negative and 172 (76.6%) were positive for at least one of the hepatitis markers (HBV, HCV or both). Those who were anti-HCV positive were 115 (38.98%), of which 50 were also positive to hepatitis B (16.9%), while those positive only to the B markers were 57 (19.3%). If we compare the patients with positive markers (172) to the total number of diabetic patients studied (1514), we find that there is a hepatitis B and/or C prevalence of 11.36%, with no statistically significant difference between females (95/846, 11.23%) and males (77/668, 11.53%). The prevalence of only hepatitis C was 7.6%, while only hepatitis B was 7.1%. In conclusion, our study shows an increasing prevalence of hepatitis C and B, often associated, in type 2 diabetic patients that allows us to define them as a group at risk for viral hepatitis.