Clinical and laboratory characteristics of the study patients
| Characteristic | Acute hepatitis C (n=12) | Acute hepatitis C in HBsAg carriers (n=12) | p Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| AST, aspartate aminotransferase; ALT, alanine aminotransferase; PT, prothrombin time; HCV, hepatitis C virus; HBsAg, hepatitis B surface antigen. | |||
| Data are expressed as number of patients or mean (SEM) where appropriate. | |||
| NS, non-significant (p>0.05). | |||
| Age (y) | 52.8 (4.4) | 46.7 (2.5) | NS |
| Sex (M:F) | 8:4 | 9:3 | NS |
| Albumin (g/dl) | 3.8 (0.2) | 3.4 (0.2) | NS |
| AST (U/l) | 836 (214) | 1139 (135) | NS |
| ALT (U/l) | 1192 (185) | 1552 (210) | NS |
| Bilirubin (mg/dl) | 9.9 (2.4) | 18.0 (3.3) | 0.05 |
| PT (s, prolonged) | 0.4 (0.2) | 6.3 (2.8) | 0.03 |
| HCV genotype | NS | ||
| 1b | 11 | 9 | |
| 1b+2b | 1 | 2 | |
| Other | 0 | 1 | |
| HCV RNA titre | NS | ||
| <105 copies/ml | 7 | 9 | |
| 105∼107 copies/ml | 4 | 3 | |
| >107 copies/ml | 1 | 0 | |