title: Prevalence of antibodies to hepatitis C virus in Saudi patients with chronic liver disease.
abstract: The prevalence of antibodies to hepatitis C virus (anti-HCV) has been measured in 113 Saudi patients with chronic liver diseases. Twenty-five percent of 20 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) were positive for anti-HCV and 29.7% of 38 patients with cirrhosis and 27.3% of 33 patients with liver fibrosis, respectively, also tested positive. The positivity rate for a miscellany of liver diseases (22) was 13.6%. The differences between these prevalence rates were not statistically significant. By comparison, 45% of HCC tested positive for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) while 52.7% of cirrhosis cases were positive. There rates were statistically significant when compared with HBsAg positivity rates of 9.1% and 18.2% in the liver fibrosis and miscellaneous groups. The role of hepatitis C virus (HCV) may be secondary or additive in the causation of chronic liver disease and hepatocellular carcinoma in this environment in which hepatitis B virus (HBV) is highly endemic.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Medicine and Central Laboratory, Riyadh Central Hospital, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Y M
authors.initials: YM
authors.lastname: Fakunle
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Al-Mofarreh
authors.forename: A Z
authors.initials: AZ
authors.lastname: El-Drees
authors.forename: W M
authors.initials: WM
authors.lastname: El-Karamany
authors.forename: H O
authors.initials: HO
authors.lastname: Ezzat
authors.forename: M N
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: Ballesteros
authors.forename: M Z
authors.initials: MZ
authors.lastname: Khawaji