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.

Table 2 Comparative analysis of general characteristics between groups n (%)

	Group 1 (n = 79)	Group 2 (n = 79)	P
Male gender	44 (56)	49 (62)	0.42
Mean age (mean ± SD, yr)	50.8 ± 10.6	43.9 ± 11.5	< 0.001
Alcoholism	22 (28)	10 (13)	0.02
Blood transfusion	37 (47)	23 (29)	0.02
Intravenous drug use	10 (13)	9 (11)	0.81
Duration of infection (mean ± SD, yr)	22.2 ± 7.9	20.9 ± 7.5	0.49
Age at the time of infection (mean ± SD, yr)	28.6 ± 9.6	23.0 ± 11.2	0.02
ALT (xULN)	4.2 (0.3-18.2)	1.8 (0.9-11.3)	< 0.001
AST (xULN)	3.1 (0.9-10.4)	1.4 (0.8-5.8)	< 0.001
GGT (xULN)	3.8 (0.1-16.4)	1.1 (0.1-10.6)	< 0.001
Alkaline phosphatase (xULN)	0.8 (0.3-2.1)	1.0 (0.1-3.0)	0.32
γ-globulin (g/dL)	1.9 (0.7-4.0)	1.7 (0.9-3.7)	0.19
ANA positive	9 (11)	7 (9)	0.59
Genotype 1	43/65 (66)	54/79 (68)	0.78
Cirrhosis	50 (63)	20 (25)	< 0.001
Parenchymatous activity ≥ 3	43 (55)	3 (4)	< 0.001

Group 1: Patients with intense interface hepatitis; Group 2: Patients with absent, mild or moderate interface hepatitis. ALT: Alanine aminotransferase; AST: Aspartate aminotransferase; GGT: γ-glutamyltransferase; xULN: Times the upper limit of normal; ANA: Antinuclear antibody.