title: [Nine-year follow-up of hepatitis C virus infection in a rural area of Hebei province, China].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate natural history of hepatitis C virus infection and related factors among plasma donors in China.
  
  
  METHODS
  172 plasma donors in a rural area of Hebei province had been diagnosed as HCV infection in 1993. No antiviral treatment was applied to them during the period of infection. In the present study, we investigated the outcome of HCV infection nine years later and related factors affecting the outcome. In fact, only 142 cases were followed up in the investigation. The mean age of 142 cases of blood donors was 46 +/- 9 and the mean age of infection was 37 +/- 9 years old.
  
  
  RESULTS
  After nine-year follow-up, 1.2% died of end-stage liver disease. 130 (91.6%) of 142 cases under investigation were still positive for HCV RNA or anti-HCV in their blood and 12 cases (8.4%) were negative for both HCV RNA and anti-HCV. 3.1% developed liver cirrhosis among the patients with persistent infection. The mean level of ALT, AST, GGT among HCV RNA positive cases were significantly higher than that of HCV RNA negative cases (P < 0.001). The abnormal rates of ALT and/or AST in male patients were significantly higher than those of female patients (P = 0.005). The rate of progression to liver cirrhosis from chronic hepatitis C virus was significantly higher in patients co-infected with HCV/HBV than that of the cases of single HCV infection.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Higher chronic rate was observed in this research. Superinfection of HBV/HCV may have worse clinical outcomes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathogen, Basic Medical College, Peking University Health Science Center, Beijing 100083, China.
authors.forename: Wen-mei
authors.initials: WM
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.forename: Wan-fu
authors.initials: WF
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Shi-yong
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Qi-xin
authors.initials: QX
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Li-min
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.forename: Hua
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wan
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: Xiu-lan
authors.initials: XL
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.forename: Min
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.forename: Xiao-yuan
authors.initials: XY
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Lai
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhuang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood; D001782:Blood Donors; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002681:China; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000150:complications* / Q000821:virology; D006801:Humans; D008107:Liver Diseases / Q000150:complications; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000097:blood; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012424:Rural Population
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D012367:RNA, Viral