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179856 tn?1333547362

Cerebrovascular Death from HCV

Another fun thing........
Hepatitis C virus infection was an independent risk predictor of cerebrovascular deaths, indicating a biological gradient of cerebrovascular mortality with increasing serum hepatitis C virus RNA levels, researchers said.

The study included residents (n=23,665, aged 30 to 65 years) from a community-based prospective cohort who were enrolled from 1991 to 1992. Residents answered structured questionnaires and provided blood samples for various serological and biochemical tests at study entry. Researchers tested serum hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA level and HCV genotype for participants seropositive for antibodies against HCV (anti-HCV).

During the 382,011 person-years of follow-up, researchers reported 255 cerebrovascular deaths, which translated into a cumulative risk for cerebrovascular deaths of 1% for seronegatives and 2.7% for seropositives of anti-HCV (P<.001). The corresponding multivariate-adjusted HR for cerebrovascular death was 2.18 (95% CI, 1.50-3.16) for anti-HCV seropositives.

In additional analysis, compared with patients seronegative for anti-HCV, the multivariate-adjusted HR for anti-HCV-seropositive participants with undetectable serum levels of HCV RNA was 1.40 (95% CI, 0.62-3.16), 2.36 (95% CI, 1.42-3.93) for low serum levels and 2.82 (95% CI, 1.25-6.37) for high serum levels (P<.001 for trend).

“HCV infection is associated with an increased risk of cerebrovascular mortality, particularly for those with elevated serum HCV RNA levels,” the researchers concluded. “If future additional studies confirm the role of HCV infection and the development of cerebrovascular disease, it may be possible to prevent cerebrovascular disease by using specific antiviral strategies.”

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1067109 tn?1258330364
Hi,

So, I get from this that a high HCV RNA level messes with the blood flow in the brain and can lead to death in 2 point something percent of perople who have HCV.  Is that right?  Also, it appeard that this study was done in 1991 and 1992 (a very old study), right?  Break it down into layman's terms so I can understand.
Thanks
Joey
p.s.  By the way, as far as I know, I am still SVR since July, which was one-year post treatment.  Plan to test and biospy again in August 2011.
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Avatar universal
Hi Deb-
Thanks for posting the interesting and uplifting information. I often wondered if viral load has a impact on extra-hepatic manifestations of hcv.

- Dave
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Avatar universal
Interesting info. As you and others can tell some of my cerebrovascular has been affected by HCV:-)
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179856 tn?1333547362
Hey Merry where have you been hiding out?  I'm glad I posted this depressing thread just to see you post!

I don't know how much of it is related but with all the problems that HCV patients experience, this was one instance where it said a low viral load mattered. I found that part interesting as usually we all agree that VL only matters as a medication reaction guide. Well you know what i mean there even though that sounded odd.

It is about time that they realized the risks we take just having the disease and the tremendous toll it takes on our bodies.  More so  than even we know.

it is time for the world to take this disease SERIOUSLY!!!!!!!!
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Avatar universal
This is really sad comparison between HIV and HCV patients. I hope the situation will change. I would do anything in my power to change this unfortunate discrepancy. It would really be nice if HCV patients had similar medication that could at least keep the virus at bay.

And you are right, we all should take care of ourselves and try to live as healthy as we can.
Helpful - 0
233616 tn?1312787196
nygirl,,,,hey cutie...you ryin' to cheer us all up!!!  

Tashka, we fight off hundreds of new virons we are exposed to everyday, and free radicals as well, cancer cells, and millions of toxic molecules...but adding an extra million or so virons a day (that's what the HCV virus makes each day) was never nature's intent, and it does wear out the immune system, and also the endocrine system much more quickly. These things are now being studied.

Pituitary dysfunction occurs in less than .01% of the general populace and in 40% of HCV patients for instance. Type 2 diebetes is more common, as are many other ailments.  Perhaps, as medicine discovers the toll HCV is taking they will redouble their efforts to wipe it out. After all, there are 30,000,000   (thirty million) people with HIV/Aids and 1,000,000,000  one billion people with Hepatitis. The sooner we realize the toll this is taking on people, the sooner we will see the point of doing the needed research.

Right now HIV patients have 2 pills to take...that keeps their VL down to 50 year round...HCV people have no such medicine. HIV reserch is 3000 dollars per patient per year in this country...HCV research is 30 dollars per patient per year.

as far as I'm concerned, knowing I'm at risk just makes me watch and try to take better care of myself....and hopefully if enough alarm bells go off maybe it will light a fire under the research community to wipe these darn virus's out!!

mb
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Avatar universal
I will find the full text of the article and read it. I am not pronouncing opinion at all, but it just seems very strange to me that so many ailments of all kinds are attributed to HCV. Leukemia, kidney damage, brain damage/dementia, skin issues, and now this.

If HCV infected patients have died from cerebrovascular incidents, it doesn't mean that this incidents were caused by HCV. Relatively healthy individual can have cerebrovascular or cardiovascular incident. I am surprised there is still no study that links HCV to heart attack. Or maybe I missed it?

HCV is a horrible virus. But there are multitudes of other viruses that live in our bodies-almost everybody is infected with cytomegalovirus, for example, and once you had chickenpox, varicella zoster  virus will reside in your nerve endings for life. How the effects of these viruses can be distinguished from the effects of HCV, considering that the majority of us are infected?  

Many, many questions.  Thank you very much for posting.  
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