OBJECTIVE - To evaluate the prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infe
ction in diabetic patients and to investigate the influence of several
epidemiological and clinical factors on HCV infection. RESEARCH DESIG
N AND METHODS - A total of 176 consecutive diabetic patients were comp
ared with 6,172 blood donors, matched by recognized risk factors to ac
quire HCV infection. Serologic testing for anti-HCV was done using a s
econd-generation commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA),
and an immunoblot assay was performed in anti-HCV positive samples to
confirm HCV specificity. Diabetic patients were divided in two groups
according to their HCV antibody status and analyzed for the following
variables: age, sex, type of diabetes, duration of disease, mode of t
herapy, late diabetic complications, previous blood transfusions, intr
avenous drug addiction, hospital admissions, major surgical procedures
, and liver function tests (LFTs). RESULTS - A higher prevalence of HC
V infection was observed in diabetic patients in comparison with blood
donors (11.5 vs. 2.5%; P < 0.001; odds ratio 4.39; 95% Ci 2.61-7.24).
We did not detect any particular epidemiological factor for HCV infec
tion in anti-HCV positive diabetic patients. In these patients, abnorm
al LFTs were observed in 72.3%, compared with only 24.7% of anti-HCV n
egative diabetic patients (P ( 0.001). CONCLUSIONS - A high prevalence
of HCV infection was detected in diabetic patients, and most of anti-
HCV positive patients presented with abnormal LFTs. Therefore, testing
for HCV infection of diabetic patients with an abnormal LFT is mandat
ory. The lack of any particular epidemiological factor for HCV infecti
on in our diabetic population suggests that HCV may have a direct role
in the development of diabetes.