Chronic Hepatitis C Virus Infection is Associated with More Severe Asthma

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ALLERGOLOGY INTERNATIONAL

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Chronic Hepatitis C Virus Infection is Associated with More Severe Asthma

doi:10.2332/allergolint.10-OA-0240

Taku Nakashima, Akihito Yokoyama, Hiroshi Ohnishi, Masahiro Yamasaki, Masahiro

Shiode, Yoshinori Haruta, Noboru Hattori, Soichiro Hozawa, Hideto Yamakido and

Nobuoki Kohno [About this authors]

ABSTRACT

Background: Chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection causes intra- and

extra-hepatic complications. The elimination of HCV has been reported to be

beneficial for asthmatic patients with HCV infection. Therefore, we hypothesized

that chronic HCV infection might be associated with the severity of asthma.

Methods: Asthmatic patients were prospectively enrolled from 13 outpatient

settings. Hepatitis B surface (HBs) antigen and HCV-RNA were measured at the

time of enrollment and evaluated along with the clinical characteristics of the

patients including the age, sex, duration of asthma, atopic status, smoking

history, and treatment step according to the Global Initiative for Asthma

guideline.

Results: Of 1327 asthmatic patients, 1258 patients (94.8%) were treated with

inhaled corticosteroids, 18 patients were positive for HBs antigen (1.4%), and

32 patients (2.4%) were positive for HCV-RNA. When compared with

HCV-RNA-negative patients, HCV-RNA-positive patients required significantly more

drugs for the treatment of asthma. No such relationship was observed in patients

with positive HBs antigen. A multivariate logistic regression analysis showed

that the male sex, a long duration of asthma, status as a current smoker, and

HCV-RNA positivity were independently associated with more severe asthma.

Conclusions: These results suggest that chronic HCV infection is an independent

factor that predisposes asthmatic patients to more severe asthma. The evaluation

of chronic HCV infection may be helpful for the management of severe asthmatic

patients without obvious factors associated with severe asthma.

KEY WORDS:

Global Initiative for Asthma, hepatitis B virus, hepatitis C virus, severe

asthma, severity of asthma

ABBREVIATIONS:

GINA, Global Initiative for Asthma; HBs, hepatitis B surface; HCV, hepatitis C

virus.

Received: 1 July 2010.

Accepted: 17 November 2010.

Allergology International : In Press

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