Introduction. 20–60 % of patients with chronic hepatitis C have an iron overload syndrome.
The purpose of the work. Determine the diagnostic values of ironkinetics in carbohydrate metabolism in patients with CHC.
Materials and methods. The study included 400 patients with CHC aged 18 to 70 years (in average — 54.1±1.1 years): 247 (61.7%) women and 153 (38.3 %) men. The levels of C-peptide, blood glucose, serum iron and ferritin were determined by ELISA method. Two groups of patients were formed: the first — 183 patients with normal levels of iron and ferritin and the second — 217 patients with chronic hepatitis C with elevated levels of iron and ferritin. The groups were representative by gender, age and duration of CHC.
Results. There was found that in patients with chronic hepatitis C with iron overload syndrome, viral load (HCV RNA) level is significantly higher (p<0.05) than in patients with normal iron level. It was noted that disorders of carbohydrate metabolism are more often recorded in patients with chronic hepatitis C with iron overload syndrome than in patients without ironkinetics disorders (31.3 % and 3.8 %, respectively; p=0.03) and is characterized by high levels of C-peptide.
Conclusions. 1. Patients with chronic hepatitis C with iron overload syndrome are apt to more frequent carbohydrate metabolism disorders as compared with patients with normal levels of iron (31.3% and 3.8%, respectively; p=0.03).
2. The presence of iron overload syndrome is an additional risk factor for development of diabetes mellitus in patients with chronic hepatitis C.