Abstract:
The objective of this study was to assess the prevalence of anti-HCV antibodies amongst diabetics in Enugu. This is important as it has been indicated that presence of HCV in diabetics could lead to insulin resistance and thus increases diabetic complications. A total of 138 diabetics were recruited for this study, with a population control of 102 apparently healthy subjects, within the same age. A structured questionnaire was used to obtain information on the demographic, comorbid and diabetic complications. Blood samples were collected through venepuncture and serum extracted from them. The serum was analysed for anti- HCV antibodies using anti-HCV antibody EIA, 4th generation kit. The lipid profile and alanine amino transaminase levels of the infected diabetics and few uninfected diabetics were also estimated using a commercially prepared kit respectively. The results were analysed statistically with significant levels taken at p<0.05. Of the 138 diabetics, 7(5.1%) were seropositive for anti-HCV antibodies while in the control subjects, 11(10.8%) were seropositive for anti- HCV antibodies. Among the diabetics and the control subjects, the females had higher seropositivity of anti-HCV antibodies than the males. In the diabetics, the females were 4(2.9%) and the males 3(2.2%) while among the control subjects, the females were 9(8.8%) and males 2(2.0%). In the diabetics, the age group 46- 60 and 61 + recorded a HCV seropositive of 5(3.6%) and 2(1.4%) respectively while the seropositive was prevalent in all the age groups in the control subjects with statistical significance of p=0.030. The ALT of 4 out of the 7 seropositive
samples tested were elevated; (mean value 17.13 ± 5.28 ul). The lipid profile of the seropositive samples analysed, all of the 7 samples had elevated triglyceride (TG) (1.84 ± 0.24mmol/l) and 1 had low density lipoprotein (LDL) (3.37 ±1.2lmmol/l) elevated while the total cholesterol (TC), high density lipoproteins (HDL) and very low density lipoproteins (VLDL) were all normal. Among the risk factors analysed for HCV infection in diabetics, those that have a family history of diabetes were more infected with HCV than those without family history 4(2.9%) and 3(2.2%) with a p-value 0.092. Other risk factors were not statistically significant. The complications due to diabetes showed that only hypertension was statistically significant with p= 0.008. There is an effect due to HCV infection in diabetic patients, as HCV can induce hypertensive complications in diabetics.
