ine"> </Objective: Hepatic steatosis is a common histological feature in
chronic hepatitis C (CHC), but its pathogenic mechanisms are not
completely understood. We aimed to evaluate the metabolic factors
associated with hepatic steatosis and fibrosis in CHC patients, and the
relation between metabolic syndrome (MS) and CHC.
Patients and Methods: This study included 71 patients with CHC
infection who underwent clinical, BMI, biochemical (assessment of
insulin resistance, serum adiponectin, TNF-α, cholesterol and
triglycerides), virological and histological assessments.
Results: Significant steatosis (>33%) was detected in 54% of the
patients, while 21.12% of the patients had stage 3/4 fibrosis. Higher
degree of steatosis was significantly associated with higher BMI,
serum insulin, HOMA index and TNF-α (P <0.0001, P <0.0006, P<
0.0001, and P <0.01 respectively). Higher stages of fibrosis were
significantly associated with higher BMI and serum triglycerides (P
<0.04, P <0.02 respectively). Multivariate analysis of the metabolic
factors showed that HOMA index (P <0.001) and TNF-α (P <0.03)
were the factors mostly predicting higher degree of steatosis. While,
BMI index (P <0.01) and serum triglycerides (P <0.03) were the
factors mostly predicting higher stage of fibrosis. We also found that
CHC is closely related to MS, and we recognized that older age
(P<0.011), higher BMI (p<0.0001), lower serum adiponectin (P
<0.0001), higher TNF-α (p<0.0001) and higher steatosis degree
(p<0.04) were significantly associated with MS in these patients.
Conclusions: In patients with CHC, higher BMI, HOMA-IR, serum
TNF-α and triglycerides and lower serum adiponectin were associated
with HCV hepatic steatosis and metabolic syndrome, while higher
BMI and serum triglycerides were associated with more advanced
fibrosis stage.