Abstract

This study was aimed to investigate the prevalence of diabetes mellitus type 1 and 2 in patients infected with hepatitis C virus. This study was conducted in blood collection Centre at Nuclear Medicine Oncology and Radiotherapy Institute (NORI) situated in Islamabad, Pakistan. The duration of study was from March 2014 to June 2014 twice a week. Randomly selected 112 HCV infected patients were included in this study. Patient information form was used to collect information from patients. In addition to this, about 51 patients were tested for random blood glucose levels, by strip based glucose testing method. Our control group consisted of 80 non HCV infected individuals of same age group. The results of the present study showed 7/112 (6.25%) diabetic patients in HCV infected group and 9/80 (11%) in non-infected. Statistical analysis does not support association of diabetes type 2 with HCV infection (OR=0.5926, 95% of CI=0.2116 to 1.6594, P=0.3193). Similarly, when we analyzed diabetes type 1 separately, 3.57% were suffering from type 1 in HCV infected patients, contrary to that there was not a single person was suffering from type 1 diabetes. Statistically, it is insignificant with p value 0.2050. Although insulin resistance is often reported in HCV infection, however, association of diabetes type 2 with HCV seems rare event. Type 1 Diabetes mellitus is reported to be linked with antiviral therapy, but our results show insignificant association.

Keywords: Diabetes mellitus, Random blood glucose, Insulin resistance, Hyperglycemia, Glucose intolerance