Cytopenias with Traditional Therapy of Hepatitis C in Pakistani Population

Abstract

Objective: To find out the frequency of blood cytopenias among the relapsers, non responders and responders to traditional therapy of Hepatitis C in a tertiary care hospital of Rawalpindi, Pakistan Study Design: Cross sectional descriptive study. Place and Duration of Study: Hematology and Gastroenterology departments of Military Hospital, Rawalpindi, for a period of one year, from August 2014 to July 2015. Methodology: After six months of treatment with conventional interferons and ribavirin 5mL blood was obtained in EDTA bottles from responders, relapsers and non-responders in laboratory, and was analyzed using Hematology Analyzer sysmex KX-21. The hemoglobin levels, total leukocyte counts and platelet counts were measured. The results were entered into SPSS 16 and the analysis for descriptive statistics was applied for finding out the frequencies. Results: A total of 380 patients were studied, out of which 204 were non-responders, 52 were responders and 121 were relapsers. Ninety eight patients [25.9%] had anemia, 12 [3.2%] had leukopenia and 48 [12.7%] had thrombocytopenia. Among non responders, 56 [27.5%] had anemia, 7 [3.4%] had leukopoenia and 31 [15.2%] had thrombocytopenia. Among responders, 16 [30.8%] had anemia, 2 [3.8%] had leukopoenia and 4 [7.7%] had thrombocytopenia. Among relapsers, 26 [21.5%] had anemia, 3[2.5%] had leukopoenia and 13 [10.7%] had thrombocytopenia. Conclusions: Anemia is most common among relapsers, non-responders and responders, while leukopenia is least commonly seen. Thrombocytopoenia occurs more commonly among non-responders and least commonly among responders.