Frequency of steatosis in chronic hepatitis C patients in Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa. A clinical and histological study

Objective: to assess steatosis histologically and correlate with body mass index in chronic hepatitis c patients. material and methods: this was a prospective observational study conducted at gastroenterology ward and department of pathology at combined military hospital,peshawar from may 2007 to september 2008. a total of 100 adult patients who were hcv-rna positive fulfilling the pre-requisites for liver biopsy were admitted. liver biopsy was performed and analyzed for necroinflammation,fibrosis and steatosis. steatosis was correlated with bmi by using chi square test. p value of 0.05 was considered as significant. results: fifty-four male and 46 female patients between ages of 13 to 70 years were studied. forty-nine patients (49%) were overweight,16 (16%) were obese. twenty-nine (29%) patients showed grade i steatosis,8(8%) had grade ii and 4 (4%) had grade iii steatosis. strong correlation was found between steatosis and bmi (p-value 0.0001). high bmi is strongly associated with females of >35 years of age,p-value 0.0001. conclusion: steatosis is related to higher bmi and together with necroinflammation results in accelerated disease process in chronic hepatitis c patients. steatosis should always be assessed histologically and included in clinical as well as research analysis.