Baseline epidemiological and virologic features of the 60 patients with systemic vasculitis and chronic active HCV infection according to presence or absence of detectable MC. Except where indicated otherwise, values are no. (%).
| Characteristics | Cases MC–, n = 12 | Controls MC+, n = 48 | Unadjusted OR (95% CI) | p |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Epidemiological features | ||||
| Age, mean (SD) yrs | 60.2 ± 16.5 | 59.7 ± 14.1 | 1.0 (0.85–1.17) | 0.99 |
| No. male/female | 5/7 | 20/28 | 1 (1–1) | 1 |
| Virologic features | ||||
| HCV genotype (%) | 0.4 | |||
| 1 | 7 (64) | 22 (52) | ||
| 2 | 4 (36) | 7 (17) | ||
| 3 | 0 (0) | 4 (10) | ||
| 4 | 0 (0) | 4 (9) | ||
| 5 | 0 (0) | 5 (12) | ||
| HCV-RNA level, mean (SD) log10IU | 6.3 ± 0.8 | 5.8 ± 0.9 | 1.4 ± 0.6–3.4) | 0.45 |
| Duration of infection, median yrs (range) | 25 (19–31) | 24 (11–45) | 1 (0.9–1.1) | 0.97 |
| Liver Metavir score* | ||||
| Activity score, median (range) | 1 (0–2) | 1 (0–3) | 1 (0.3–2.6) | 0.94 |
| Fibrosis score, median (range) | 2 (1–3) | 1 (0–4) | 1 (0.5–2.1) | 0.92 |
↵* Liver biopsy specimens were evaluated according to the validated Metavir scoring system. MC: mixed cryoglobulinemia; HCV: hepatitis C virus.