Hepatitis C Seropositivity and Short -Term Clinical Outcome of Acute Heart Failure Patients

Background: Heart failure (HF) is a major public health problem affecting around 37.7 million people globally with frequent hospital admissions, reduced quality of life and shortened life expectancy.
Objective: The aim of this study is to compare between the short-term clinical outcome of hepatitis C seropositive acute heart failure patient’s vs the seronegative acute heart failure patients.
Patients and Methods: The study is a prospective cohort study that included 150 patients admitted at cardiovascular department in Specialized Medical Hospital (Mansoura University), presented by symptoms and signs of acute heart failure. Patients of the study were classified to two groups; hepatitis C seropositive acute heart failure patient’s vs the seronegative acute heart failure patients.
Results: High prevalence of abnormal liver function tests (LFTs) was found in our patients with acute heart failure reaching 77.5% of the study population. Abnormal LFTs were higher in hepatitis C virus (HCV) positive compared to HCV negative. In our study, statistically significant correlation was found between cardiovascular mortality and major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) with chronic kidney disease (CKD) and albumin as regarding HCV positive patient. However, no statistically significant correlation was found between cardiovascular mortality and MACE with any of liver function, CBC, CKD as regarding HCV negative patient.
Conclusion: The higher prevalence of abnormal liver function tests in our study in comparison with other studies may be explained by more aggressive HF exacerbation in our patients associated subclinical hepatitis C affection in our patients with HF. Our patients with acute heart failure had younger age than other studies. The present controversy results need large long-term study in the future.