Effect of liver steatosis on therapeutic response in chronic hepatitis C virus genotype 1 infected patients in hungary.

Hepatic steatosis seems a frequent histological alteration seen in chronic hepatitis C virus infected patients. There is still a lot to learn about the exact mechanism of effect of liver steatosis and its influence on the progression of liver diseases. Our study involved 96 chronic hepatitis C genotype 1 infected Hungarian patients who received pegylated interferon and ribavirin treatment for the first time. Degree of steatosis, viral and host factors influencing its development and its effect on the efficiency of antiviral treatment were determined. In 61 (64%) of patients the liver tissue showed varying degree of steatosis, which did not show relationship with level of alcohol consumption (p = 0.5792), diabetes mellitus (p = 0.5925) or body mass index (p = 0.9685) in type 1 chronic hepatitis C patients. Degree of steatosis and virus titer showed strong relationship (OR = 2.1). Significant relationship was also found between degree of hepatic steatosis and stage (p = 0.0119), as well as between therapeutic response to combined pegylated interferon + ribavirin treatment and steatosis (p = 0.0012). Our results demonstrated that steatosis has clinical significance in hepatitis C virus genotype 1 infected patients.