Frequency of Anti-HCV antibodies in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and 6-minute walk test

Aim: to determine the frequency of anti hcv antibody in patients of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and its impact on 6 minute walk test. study design: cross sectional study methodology: total 107 patients were selected after demographic data and confirming them clinically and on spirometry as suffering from copd,3ml of blood was taken for anti hcv antibody test performed by third generation elisa (ortho hcv elisa) kit,all those selected patients than underwent abdominal ultrasound to rule out cirrhosis and 6-minute walk tests (6mwt) as per protocol. results: out of 107 cases 14(13.1%) were positive for anti hcv antibody,majority of study cases were from age group > 45 years (85%),the mean duration of copd was significantly different for anti hcv +ve (5.28±1.48) years and anti hcv-ve cases (6.72±3.15) p-value <0.01. 6mwt shows significant decline in distance covered by anti hcv +ve cases (425 meters) than anti hcv-ve (549 meters) p-value <0.04. post 6mwt there was significant drop in oxygen saturation in anti hcv +ve (89.6%) than anti hcv-ve (93.8%) cases p-value <0.01. conclusion: chronic hepatitis c virus can affect the lungs with or without liver cirrhosis,and 6-mwt can be a useful noninvasive,free of cost test for the monitoring of lung functions and physical health in patients prior,in between and post antiviral treatment and can be helpful in evaluation of physical and lung health beforeliver transplantation.