REDUCED HAND GRIP STRENGTH IN OVERWEIGHT AND OBESE CHRONIC HEPATITIS C PATIENTS

Hepatitis C is a liver disease that causes significant changes in metabolism, and also has an impact on nutritional status.

To evaluate the nutritional status and cardiovascular risk in patients with chronic hepatitis C.

This cross-sectional study investigated 58 patients with chronic hepatitis C, non-cirrhotic and were not under active pharmacological treatment. Patients with significant alcohol consumption (greater than 10 g ethanol/day) were excluded. Patients underwent nutritional assessment through anthropometric measurements and functional assessment using hand grip strength by dynamometry. The physical activity was assessed using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire. Patients also underwent clinical and laboratory evaluation. Cardiovascular risk was calculated by the Framingham score.

The mean age of patients was 51.6±9.7 years, 55.2% were female, and 79.3% had genotype 1. The most prevalent degree of fibrosis was F1 (37.9%) followed by F2 (27.6%) and F3 (1.7%). The prevalence of overweight/obesity considering the body mass index was 70.7%. However, 57.7% of men and 68.8% of women were considered malnourished according to hand grip strength. These patients also had waist circumference (93.5±10.7 cm) and neck circumference (37.0±3.6 cm) high. Almost 60% of patients were considered sedentary or irregularly active. In relation to cardiovascular risk, 50% of patients had high risk of suffering a cardiovascular event within 10 years.

Although most patients with hepatitis C presented overweight, associated with high cardiovascular risk, they also have reduced functional capacity, indicative of protein-caloric commitment. Therefore, body mass index can not be considered the only method of assessment for nutritional diagnosis of patients with liver disease. Adopting methods such as hand grip strength can be important for a better understanding of nutritional status of these patients.