Author information
1
Internal Medicine, Department of Medical, Surgical, Neurological, Metabolic, and Geriatric Sciences, University of Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli", Naples.
2
Clinical Hospital of Marcianise, ASL Caserta, Caserta.
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND AIM:
Chronic hepatitis C (HCV), particularly genotype 1, is associated with insulin resistance (IR) and diabetes. We evaluated the impact of HCV clearance by all-oral direct-acting antiviral (DAAs) treatments on IR and glycemic control.
METHODS:
Included in this prospective case-control study were 133 consecutive HCV-genotype 1 patients with advance liver fibrosis (F3-F4) without type 2 diabetes. Sixty-eight treated with DAAs and 65 untreated. Liver fibrosis was assessed by transient elastography. Pre-, end- and 3 months post-treatment withdrawal IR homeostasis was assessed by HOMA-IR, QUICKI and HOMA-B.
RESULTS:
At baseline, treated and untreated patients showed similar liver fibrosis levels, HOMA-IR was 4.90±4.62 and 4.64±5.62, respectively. HOMA-IR correlated with HCV RNA levels. At the end of treatment, all patients cleared HCV RNA, regardless of liver fibrosis and BMI, a reduction in HOMA-IR at 2.42±1.85 was showed (p<0.001), in addition, increased insulin sensitivity, decreased insulin secretion, reduction of serum glucose and insulin levels were observed. Data were confirmed 3 months after treatment withdrawal in the 65 patients who cleared HCV. No variation occurred in untreated patients. Overall, 76.5% of SVR patients showed IR improvements, of which 41.2% normalized IR. Improvement of IR was strict associated with HCV clearance, however, patients with the highest levels of fibrosis remain associated with some degree of IR.
CONCLUSIONS:
The data underline a role of HCV in development of IR and that viral eradication reverses IR and improves glycemic control and this could prevent IR-related clinical manifestations and complications.