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Essential hypertension and chronic viral hepatitis

G Parrilli1, F Manguso, L Orsini

  • 1Department of Clinical Medicine, Naples, Italy. giaparri@unina.it

Digestive and Liver Disease : Official Journal of the Italian Society of Gastroenterology and the Italian Association for the Study of the Liver
|March 21, 2007
PubMed

Insights

Essential hypertension may slow the progression of chronic hepatitis. Patients with treated hypertension were diagnosed later and had less severe liver damage and lower mortality rates compared to normotensive individuals.

Area of Science:

  • Hepatology
  • Cardiology
  • Internal Medicine

Background:

  • Arterial hypertension and chronic hepatitis are prevalent conditions.
  • While the link between hypertension and liver cirrhosis is studied, its effect on chronic hepatitis (CH) is less understood.
  • Antihypertensive drugs like ACEIs and ARBs may reduce liver fibrosis in viral CH and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To compare the clinical and histological outcomes of post-viral chronic hepatitis in patients with and without essential hypertension.
  • To investigate the natural history of viral CH in relation to treated essential hypertension.

Main Methods:

  • A cross-sectional cohort study of 95 patients with viral CH assessed histological and biochemical data in relation to treated hypertension.
  • A retrospective study followed 254 patients with viral CH for 2-20 years to determine the natural history concerning treated essential hypertension.

Main Results:

  • Patients with treated hypertension were older at CH diagnosis (51.4 vs. 46.2 years) and showed less severe necro-inflammatory liver damage.
  • ALT and endothelin-1 levels were significantly lower in hypertensive patients.
  • The retrospective analysis confirmed older age at diagnosis (48.7 vs. 41.9 years) and reduced mortality rates (2.2% vs. 11%) in patients with treated hypertension.

Conclusions:

  • The progression of post-viral chronic hepatitis appears to be less severe in individuals with essential hypertension.
  • Antihypertensive drug treatment may contribute to the observed milder disease course in these patients.
Abstract

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