Babar Salim, Muhammad Khurram, Sara Ijaz Gilani, Khushnud Ejaz, Muhammad Arif, Hamamatul Bushra Khaar.
Thyroid function abnormalities in chronic hepatitis C patients treated with standard interferon and ribavirin at three months after starting treatment.
Pak J Gastroenterol Jan ;22(1):28-31.

Objective: To note thyroid function abnormalities in chronic hepatitis C (CHC) patients treated with standard interferon (IFN) ribavirin therapy, three months after starting treatment. Design: Cross sectional, observational. Place and duration of study: Department of Medicine, Holy Family Hospital, Rawalpindi from December 2006 to December 2007. Materials and methods: Seventy CHC patients aged >18 and <50 years, who were planned to receive treatment with IFN ribavirin combination were inducted by convenient sampling technique after taking informed consent. Each patient was clinically euthyroid. Thyroid profile (T4, T3, TSH) were sought before and three months after starting therapy to note thyroid function abnormalities. T test was used as test of significance, p value <0.05 was considered significant. Results: Thirty (42.9%) were male, and 40 (57.1%) female. Mean patient age was 35.9 ± 7.2 years. Mean baseline T3, T4 and TSH levels were 1.38±0.19 nmol/ litre, 7.1 ±1.4 µg/dL and 2.72±1.29 mu/ L respectively. Three months after starting treatment with IFN ribavirin combination, 25.7% (n=18) patients had some abnormality of thyroid profile. 22.8% (n=16) had T3 level abnormalities, 24.1% (n=17) had deranged T4 levels and 25.7% (n=18) had TSH level derangement. TSH level was high in 17.1% (n=12) indicating hypothyroidism. Low TSH and elevated T4 and T3 was noted in 8.5% (n=6), 7.1% (n=5) and 5.7% (n=4) patients respectively indicating hyperthyroidism. Mean T3, T4 and TSH levels at 3 months of treatment were 1.26±0.61 nmol/ litre, 7.04±2.43 µg/dL and 3.74±4.46 mu/L. No statistically significant difference in mean T3, T4 and TSH levels before and at 3 months of therapy was noted. Cocclusion: About one quarter of CHC patients treated with IFN and ribavirin have abnormalities of thyroid profile three months after starting therapy. Hypothyroid pattern is more frequently noted in these patients.

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