Older age at the time of liver biopsy is the important risk factor for advanced fibrosis in patients with chronic hepatitis C

Background/Aims: Progression of chronic hepatitis C depends on the host and viral characteristics, duration of infection, co-infection with other viruses, etc. In this study, some of demographic, epidemiological and viral data as risk factors for a degree of liver fibrosis were evaluated. Methodology: A total of 144 patients was investigated (89 males, ages from 16-65 years) classified into two groups, with fibrosis scores 0-3 and 4-6, using the Ishak scoring system. Significant variables were entered into univariate logistic regression model and further multivariate analysis was performed. Results: There were 64% and 36% of patients with fibrosis scores 0-3 and 4-6, respectively. Gender, moderate to heavy alcohol abuse and high viral RNA were equally distributed between both groups. In univariate analysis, the age older than 40, history of intravenous drug abuse, and the genotype 1b were independently associated with different fibrosis scores. Multivariate regression analysis revealed ages older than 40 as the positive (p LT 0.001), and younger than 40 as the negative predictive factors for fibrosis scores 4-6 and 0-3 (p LT 0.001), respectively. Conclusions: Our results indicate the age over 40 at the time of liver biopsy as the important risk factor for advanced liver disease in chronic hepatitis C according to fibrosis scores.