Clinical and epidemiological features chronic hepatitis C in children

• Gulnara F. Leonova
• Ilsiyar M. Khaertynova
• Alisa R. Bilalova
• Dariya E. Dolovskova
• Anatoliy M. Kalyshenko

Abstract

Chronic hepatitis C is a serious pediatric problem. It is known that about 11 million patients with chronic hepatitis C in the world are children under the age of 15.

Aim of the study was to study the clinical and epidemiological features of the course of chronic hepatitis C in children in different age groups.

Material and methods. A clinical and epidemiological analysis of 247 children with chronic hepatitis C at the age of 0-17 years was carried out. Statistical processing was carried out using the software Statistica 10.0.

Results and discussion. A significant proportion of patients with chronic hepatitis C were children aged 7 to 17 years (63%). Blood transfusion (35.7%), surgical and parenteral interventions (19.0 and 17.9% respectively) took a significant place in the transmission of the virus, and a perinatal infection pathway was established in 21.9%. The most common was genotype 1 - 53.8%, genotype 3 - 25%.

Conclusion. Chronic hepatitis C for most children has an asymptomatic course, which is not an evidence of a lack of progression of the disease, since more than half of the children showed liver fibrosis according to elastometry. The asymptomatic course of chronic hepatitis C in children at the age of 6-7 is characterized by an increase in ALT activity and the appearance of complaints, clinically manifested by asthenovegetative, dyspeptic syndromes, the addition of intercurrent diseases. The manifest course of chronic hepatitis C differs from the asymptomatic one at a faster rate of disease progression.

Keywords:HCV-infection, acute and chronic hepatitis C virus infection, children, incidence

References

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