Association between insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, and duration of hepatitis C in Egyptian patients

Background Chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection affects around 170 million individuals worldwide. Egypt has one of the highest prevalence of patients with HCV worldwide. A higher prevalence of insulin resistance (IR) is found in this population. Aim The aim of this work was to study the relation between IR, metabolic syndrome (MS), and hepatitis C in nondiabetic patients and to assess their relation to the duration of HCV infection. Patients and methods This was a cross-sectional study of 50 participants matched for age (49 ± 7.6 years), sex, and BMI. These participants were divided into three groups: 20 controls, 15 patients with HCV for less than 10 years' duration, and 15 patients with HCV for more than 10 years. We assessed patients for MS according to the AACE diagnostic criteria. Fasting and postprandial insulin levels were also assessed. IR was evaluated using the homeostasis model assessment-insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) equation. Results There was a statistically significant difference in HOMA-IR levels between controls (median 0.43 μU/ml) and those with HCV for more than 10 years (median 0.75 μU/ml; P = 0.001) as well as those with HCV for less than 10 years (median 0.89 μU/ml; P = 0.001). There was no significant difference in HOMA-IR levels between both groups of HCV ( P = 0.8). The increase in the HOMA-IR test values was mainly because of increased fasting insulin levels in both groups because of the significant positive correlation between HOMA-IR and fasting insulin in patients with chronic HCV less than and those more 10 years' duration ( r = 0.902, r = 1, respectively; P = 0.001 in both groups). MS was found in four of 15 patients in each group of patients; yet, none of the controls fulfilled the diagnosis criteria. Conclusion MS and IR are significantly higher in Egyptian HCV patients when compared with normal controls irrespective of the duration of HCV.