Association between High-Sensitivity C-Reactive Protein and N-Terminal Pro-B-Type Natriuretic Peptide in Patients with Hepatitis C Virus Infection

摘要

Background. Prior study showed HCV-infected patients have increased serum N-Terminal Pro-B-Type Natriuretic Peptide (NT-proBNP) and a possible left ventricular diastolic dysfunction. The objectives of the present paper were to investigate the characteristics of hs-CRP and its correlation with clinical profiles including NT-proBNP and echocardiographic variables in HCV-infected patients. Methods and Results. A total of 106 HCV-infected patients and 106 control healthy individuals were enrolled. The level of serum hs-CRP (median 1.023 mg/L, range 0.03~5.379 mg/L) was significantly lower in all 106 patients than that in controls (median 3.147 mg/L, range 0.08-7.36 mg/L, P = 0.012). Although hs-CRP did not correlate significantly with NT-proBNP when all patients and controls were included (r = 0.169, P = 0.121), simple regression analysis demonstrated a statistically significant linear correlation between hs-CRP and NT-proBNP in HCV-infected patients group (r = 0.392, P = 0.017). Independent correlates of hs-CRP levels (R2 = 0.13) were older age (beta' = 0.031, P = 0.025) and NT proBNP beta' = 0.024, P = 0.017). Conclusions. Although the level of serum hs-CRP decreased significantly, there was a significant association between hs-CRP and NT-proBNP in HCV-infected patients. In the past decade, association of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and cardiovascular diseases (CVD) has gained importance because the high occurrence of hepatitis C is a common source of infection worldwide. There have been a series of studies focusing on associations between HCV infection and CVD to investigate whether HCV is a risk factor for development of CVD. Some investigators have reported positive associations between HCV infection and CVD including dilated cardiomyopathy, hypertrophy cardiomyopathy, myocarditis, and coronary artery disease, respectively. Our previous study has shown that patients with Hepatitis C virus infection have increased serum N-Terminal Pro-B-Type Natriuretic Peptide (NT-proBNP) and a possible subclinical left ventricular diastolic dysfunctional evidence for a pathogenic link between HCV and CVD.