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NEW THIS FRIDAY: CLINICAL CHARACTERISTICS AND RISK FACTORS OF SPORADIC HEPATITIS E IN CENTRAL CHINA

Wednesday, 14th of August 2013

• CLINICAL CHARACTERISTICS AND RISK FACTORS OF SPORADIC HEPATITIS E IN CENTRAL CHINA

Virol J. 2011 Apr 1;8:152. doi: 10.1186/1743-422X-8-152.

Zhang S, Wang J, Yuan Q, Ge S, Zhang J, Xia N, Tian D.

Source

Department of Infectious Disease, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, China. dytian@tjh.tjmu.edu.cn

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

Epidemiological investigations, detections and vaccines of hepatitis E (HE) have been paid a focus of attention in prior studies, while studies on clinical features and risk factors with a large number of sporadic HE patients are scarce.

RESULTS:

Sporadic HE can occur throughout the year, with the highest incidence rate in the first quarter of a year, in central of China. Of the 210 patients, 85.2% were male, and the most common clinical symptoms were jaundice (85.7%), fatigue (70.5%) and anorexia (64.8%). Total bilirubin (TBil), blood urea nitrogen (BUN), and international normalized ratio (INR) were found as major risk factors for death of HE patients. There was an overall mortality of 10%, and the mortality in the cirrhotic and non-cirrhotic group was 25% and 6.47%, respectively. Moreover, hepatitis E virus (HEV) infected patients with liver cirrhosis had a higher mortality and incidence of complications.

CONCLUSIONS:

TBil, BUN, and INR are major risk factors of mortality for HE. Liver cirrhosis can aggravate HE, and lead to a higher mortality. HEV infection can cause decompensation in patients with cirrhosis, as evidenced by a worsening Child-Pugh score.