Evaluation of the impact of HCV infection on rheumatoid arthritis disease activity : An ultrasonic study /
تقييم تأثير الاصابة بالالتهاب الكبدى الوبائى فيروس سى على نشاط مرضى الروماتويد المفصلى : دراسة بالموجات الصوتية
Walaa Abdelrahman Saleh ; Supervised Nabila Abdelhamid Gohar , Mayada Ali Abdallah , Marwa Khairy Mehasseb
- Cairo : Walaa Abdelrahman Saleh , 2015
- 203 P. : charts , facsimiles ; 25cm
Thesis (Ph.D.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Medicine - Department of Rheumatology and Rehabilitation
Patients and methods: 155 RA patients were classified according to the presence of concomitant HCV infection into 2 groups. In addition 79 HCV patients, with no identified autoimmune disorder served as the control group. RA was diagnosed according to the 2010 American College of Rheumatology (ACR) criteria. All patients were subjected to full history taking, detailed clinical examination, laboratory assessment, assessment of disease activity using the DAS28 score, assessment of functional status using MHAQ score and assessment of fibromyalgia. Ultrasonographic assessment was done using both the German US7 score and the 12 joint simplified joint score for the three groups. Results: Significantly higher DAS28 and MHAQ scores were observed in the RA/HCV group with mean values of (5.4±1.1, 1.05±0.79, respectively) (P-value <0.001). Some extra-articular manifestations were significantly higher in the RA/HCV group such as SC nodules, dry eyes, dry mouth and dyspnea (P-value <0.001, <0.001, <0.001, 0.026, respectively). Significantly higher US7 synovitis scores were found in the RA/HCV group (P-value= 0.03). However no difference was found using the 12 joint simplified joint score despite the higher mean values of synovitis in the RA/HCV group. Both US7 and S12 joint scores showed significant positive correlation with DA28 in the RA and the RA/HCV groups. Conclusion: Concomitant HCV infection has an impact on RA disease activity with higher DAS28 scores encountered by the RA/HCV group. However, our findings revealed that HCV infection per se had insignificant musculoskeletal ultrasonographic findings. Further studies including larger numbers of patients directed towards the relationship between HCV infection and RA disease activity