Patients with HCV, diabetes at greater risk for liver-related death

Patients with HCV, diabetes at greater risk for liver-related death

October 24, 2012

LAS VEGAS — Mortality rates, particularly because of liver-related causes, were higher among patients with HCV and diabetes than in those with either disease or neither, according to data presented at the 2012 of Gastroenterology Annual Scientific Meeting.

Researchers evaluated data from 2,132 veterans with viremic HCV, along with matched controls. All patients were selected from the Veterans Affairs department of the New York Harbor Healthcare System. Patients were grouped according to cause of death: nonmalignancy liver-related, liver malignancy-related, nonliver malignancy-related, cardiovascular and other causes.

Between 2002 and 2011, 521 patients died, including 97 who had both HCV and DM, 229 with HCV, 116 with DM and 79 with neither disease. Among patients with evaluable mortality data, those with both HCV and DM had higher mortality rates due to liver-related causes both malignant (16.5% compared with 10.0% among those with HCV, 2.6% with DM and 2.5% with neither) and nonmalignant (7.2% compared with 4.8% in HCV, 2.6% in DM and 0% in those with neither).
Investigators noted that liver-related causes comprised the majority of deaths among these patients, according to preliminary data. Malignancy unrelated to the liver was the cause for fewer deaths among those with HCV and DM than any other evaluated groups (7.2% compared with 13.5% for those with HCV, 17.2% with DM and 26.6% with neither).

“Patients with hepatitis C and diabetes are more likely to have a higher mortality rate than patients with HCV or diabetes alone,” researcher Meira Abramowitz, MD, a GI fellow at the State University of New York Downstate Hospital in Brooklyn, told Healio.com. “Patients with HCV and diabetes are more likely to die from liver-related malignancy, such as hepatocellular carcinoma, than those with HCV or diabetes alone, or neither.” Abramowitz added that preliminary data has yet to achieve statistical significance, and that approximately half of the causes of death for the cohort are unknown because they occurred outside of the VA. Investigators, however, anticipate achieving significance with additional information from the ongoing study.

For more information:
Abramowitz M. P1325: Effect of Hepatitis C and Diabetes Mellitus on Mortality and Causes of Death: A Ten Year Prospective Cohort Study of U.S. Veterans. Presented at: the 2012 American College of Gastroenterology Annual Scientific Meeting; Oct. 19-24, Las Vegas.

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