Community-based study of hepatitis C virus infection and type 2 diabetes: an association affected by age and hepatitis severity status.

Past studies of the relation between hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and type 2 diabetes conflict. The authors aimed to elucidate the relation by using a large community-based sample with a wide range of liver conditions. Between October 1997 and February 1998, 2,327 consecutive subjects (aged > or =35 years) were enrolled at the public health facility in Taiwan. Blood sugar, hepatitis B surface antigen, and antibody for HCV (anti-HCV) were tested. Abdominal sonography was performed on viral-hepatitis-positive subjects. In univariate analysis, older age, lower educational levels, sedentary work, body mass index of > or 25 kg/m2, and anti-HCV positivity were significantly associated with type 2 diabetes (p<0.05), but smoking, alcohol consumption, gender, and hepatitis B surface antigen status were not. In multivariate logistic regression, anti-HCV positivity was strongly associated with type 2 diabetes in subjects aged 35-49 years (odds ratio (OR)=3.3, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.4, 8.0) and 50-64-years (OR=1.6, 95% CI: 1.1, 2.5). Sonographic evidence of fatty liver (OR=2.4, 95% CI: 1.2, 4.8) and chronic liver disease (OR=2.0, 95% CI: 1.0, 4.2) in anti-HCV-positive subjects was moderately associated with type 2 diabetes after age and gender adjustment. Data suggest that HCV infection is moderately associated with type 2 diabetes; the association was strongest for subjects aged 35-49 years and increased with severity of the liver condition.