Is autoimmune hepatitis a frequent finding among HCV patients with intense interface hepatitis?

Table 1 General characteristics of patients with intense interface hepatitis n (%)

	Intense interface hepatitis (n = 92)
Male gender	52 (57)
Age (mean ± SD, yr)	49.8 ± 10.5
Age at the time of infection (mean ± SD, yr)	29.5 ± 9.8
Parenteral risk factor	59 (64)
Duration of infection (mean ± SD, yr)	20.1 ± 8.7
History of blood transfusion	44 (48)
Intravenous drug use	13 (14)
Hemodialysis	2 (2)
Alcoholism	25 (27)
Human immunodeficiency virus-positive	5 (5)
Renal transplant	6 (7)
End-stage renal disease	2 (2)
Alanine aminotransferase (xULN)	4.1 (0.3-18.2)
Aspartate aminotransferase (xULN)	3.0 (0.9-10.4)
γ-glutamyltransferase (xULN)	4.1 (0.1-16.4)
Alkaline phosphatase (xULN)	0.9 (0.3-3.8)
γ-globulin (g/dL)	1.9 (0.73-5.74)
Antinuclear antibody	11 (12)1
Anti-smooth muscle antibody	5 (5)
Anti-liver/kidney microsomal antibody	0 (0)
Antimitochondrial antibody	1 (1)
Hepatitis C virus genotype
Genotype 1	53/77 (69)
Genotype non-1	24/77 (31)
Cirrhosis	53 (58)
Parenchymatous activity ≥ 3	50 (54)
Intense plasma cell infiltrate	2 (2)
Rosettes	26 (28)

¹All antinuclear antibody positive patients presented the speckled pattern; titers varied from 1/80 to 1/640. xULN: Times the upper limit of normal.