title: Etiological, clinical and laboratory data of post-transfusion hepatitis: a retrospective study of 379 cases from 53 Italian hospitals.
abstract: Among the 8,604 cases of acute viral hepatitis hospitalized during 1982 in 53 Italian hospitals, we studied 379 cases of post-transfusion hepatitis, 262 cases which occurred after surgery and 4,576 cases with no history of parenteral exposure. The etiological agents of post-transfusion hepatitis were NANB viruses in 57.8%, HBV in 39.0% and HAV in 3.2% of the cases. CMV and EBV accounted for less than 1.5% of the post-transfusion hepatitis cases. HBV was the main etiological agent (62.2% of the cases) in the post-surgical hepatitis group, where HAV accounted for only 6.1% of the cases. In contrast, in the group with no history of parenteral exposure, hepatitis A was most frequent. Percentages of patients with history of transfusion or surgery were always higher in type B and NANB hepatitis than in type A, suggesting that surgery without transfusion also represents a risk of acquiring type B and NANB hepatitis. No regional differences were observed in the etiological patterns of post-transfusion hepatitis and post-surgical hepatitis. The acute phase of type B post-transfusion hepatitis was more severe than that of NANB post-transfusion hepatitis, as shown by higher serum bilirubin and ALT levels and by a higher case fatality rate.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001803:Blood Transfusion; D003586:Cytomegalovirus Infections / Q000209:etiology; D006506:Hepatitis A / Q000209:etiology; D006508:Hepatitis Antibodies / Q000032:analysis; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000209:etiology; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000209:etiology; D006525:Hepatitis, Viral, Human / Q000209:etiology*; D006566:Herpesviridae Infections / Q000209:etiology; D004854:Herpesvirus 4, Human; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D008111:Liver Function Tests; D008875:Middle Aged
chemical_list: D006508:Hepatitis Antibodies