Uncomplicated Hepatitis C Shows No Symptoms
A DGReview of :"Absence of specific symptoms in chronic hepatitis C"
Journal of Gastroenterology
11/01/2002
By Anne MacLennan
People with chronic hepatitis C but with no severe complications do not show any
specific subjective physical symptoms, suggest doctors in Japan.
The severity of the disorder was not linked with patients' symptoms in this
study from the Isesaki Municipal Hospital, Isesaki, and the First Department of
Internal Medicine and Department of Public Health, Gunma University School of
Medicine, Maebashi.
This is a rare systematic examination of subjective symptoms in chronic
hepatitis C patients, although it has been believed the disease induces, for
example, fatigue or dullness in the legs.
Dr Motoki Iwasaki and colleagues used The Todai Health Index as the most
suitable questionnaire for measuring characteristic symptoms of this disease.
The index was developed as a symptom checklist for screening particular disease
or for health management.
Participants in the study were 60 patients with chronic hepatitis C who had no
severe complications and healthy randomly selected control subjects from Isesaki
City, Gunma.
The researchers found there was a significant difference in aggression between
patients and controls.
However, neither male nor female patients with chronic hepatitis C had any
characteristic subjective physical symptoms of the disease when compared with
the healthy controls.
Moreover, the severity of the disease was not linked with the patients' symptoms
once researchers took into account age and treatments.
Journal of Gastroenterology Volume 37 Issue 9 (2002) Pp 709-716. "Absence of
specific symptoms in chronic hepatitis C"
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