title: Chronic HCV infection increases cardiac left ventricular mass index in normotensive patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH), is an independent predictor for cardiovascular events. We investigated if chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and the related insulin resistance (IR)/hyperinsulinemia could influence the increase of left ventricular mass (LVM).
  
  
  METHODS
  We enrolled 260 outpatients matched for age, body mass index, gender, ethnicity: 52 with never-treated uncomplicated chronic HCV infection (HCV(+)), 104 never-treated hypertensives (HT) and 104 healthy subjects (NT). LVM was calculated according to the Devereux formula and indexed for body surface area. The following laboratory parameters were measured: fasting plasma glucose and insulin, total, LDL- and HDL-cholesterol, triglyceride, creatinine, e-GFR-EPI, HOMA. Quantitative HCV-RNA was assessed by PCR.
  
  
  RESULTS
  HCV(+) patients with respect to healthy normotensive subjects had an increased LVMI (100 ± 23 vs. 83 ± 15 g/m(2); p < 0.0001), similar to that observed in HT group (103 ± 25 g/m(2)). Regarding biochemical variables, HCV(+) patients, in comparison with normotensive healthy subjects, had higher triglyceride, creatinine, fasting insulin and HOMA (3.2 ± 1.3 vs. 2.5 ± 1.0; p < 0.0001). At linear regression analysis, the correlation between LVMI and HOMA was similar in HT (r = 0.528, p < 0.0001) and HCV(+) (r = 0.489, p < 0.0001) groups. At multiple regression analysis, HOMA resulted the major determinant of LMVI in all groups, explaining respectively 21.8%, 27.8%, and 23.9% of its variation in NT, HT and HCV(+). At correlational analysis HCV-RNA and HOMA demonstrated a strong and linear relationship between them, explaining the 72.4% of their variation (p = 0.022).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We demonstrated a significant and direct correlation between HOMA and LVMI in patients with chronic HCV infection, similar to that observed in hypertensives.
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, University Magna Græcia of Catanzaro, Italy.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Perticone
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University Magna Græcia of Catanzaro, Italy.
authors.forename: Sofia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Miceli
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University Magna Græcia of Catanzaro, Italy.
authors.forename: Raffaele
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Maio
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University Magna Græcia of Catanzaro, Italy.
authors.forename: Benedetto
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Caroleo
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University Magna Græcia of Catanzaro, Italy.
authors.forename: Angela
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sciacqua
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University Magna Græcia of Catanzaro, Italy.
authors.forename: Eliezer Joseph
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Tassone
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University Magna Græcia of Catanzaro, Italy.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Greco
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Sciences, University Magna Græcia of Catanzaro, Italy.
authors.forename: Orietta
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Staltari
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University Magna Græcia of Catanzaro, Italy.
authors.forename: Giorgio
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sesti
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University Magna Græcia of Catanzaro, Italy. Electronic address: perticone@unicz.it.
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Perticone
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000032:analysis; D001794:Blood Pressure; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001830:Body Surface Area; D008076:Cholesterol, HDL / Q000097:blood; D008078:Cholesterol, LDL / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000097:blood / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology; D006706:Homeostasis; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000150:complications*; D017379:Hypertrophy, Left Ventricular / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D007328:Insulin / Q000097:blood; D007333:Insulin Resistance; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012307:Risk Factors; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D014280:Triglycerides / Q000097:blood
chemical_list: D001786:Blood Glucose; D008076:Cholesterol, HDL; D008078:Cholesterol, LDL; D007328:Insulin; D014280:Triglycerides
keywords: Cardiovascular risk; Chronic C hepatitis; Hypertension; Insulin resistance; Left ventricular mass