is the mortality rate high

[quayle]

Us the percentage rate high of hep c deaths,conpared to the numbers who live with it?

[pooh55811]

Mortality from All Causes Higher Among Hepatitis C-Infected, Analysis Finds

ScienceDaily (June 10, 2011) — Although liver-related mortality among those infected with hepatitis C is well documented, little is known about deaths in these patients that are not related to liver problems. A new study published in Clinical Infectious Diseases and now available online sought to determine mortality from all causes, including liver- and non-liver-related deaths among hepatitis C patients in the general U.S. population. The analysis found mortality from all causes to be higher in these patients.

An estimated 4 million adults in the U.S. tested positive for hepatitis C, according to the Third National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey, a large, nationally representative survey, conducted from 1988 to 1994. During a follow-up period of almost 15 years, 614 deaths occurred among 9,378 adults assessed in this study.

Among 203 people with chronic hepatitis C infection, 44 died, nine from liver-related causes. The remaining 35 deaths were due to HIV infection, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and other causes. Compared to individuals who tested negative for hepatitis C, patients with chronic hepatitis C infection had more than a two-fold risk of dying from both liver- and non-liver related causes.

"This should reinforce the importance of preventive measures, particularly among individuals at-risk for acquiring the disease, as well as early diagnosis, and improving access to care for those already infected, even in the absence of liver disease," said the lead author of the study, Dr. Samer El-Kamary, of the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore. "While a hepatitis C infection itself may not be the cause of death, patients with the disease may be at a higher risk of dying due to other high-risk behaviors that may have also caused the infection. Furthermore, it is possible that other comorbidities like diabetes and cardiovascular disease could get worse if there is an underlying hepatitis C infection."

Dr. El-Kamary added, "Given the low cost for hepatitis C tests, perhaps it would be advisable to consider more liberal early screening of patients if there is any suspicion of infection so they can be referred for treatment as early as possible."

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/06/110610081716.htm

[pooh55811]

"a large part of everything I read has nothnig to say stats most all just say 25% go on to have chronic liver disease and 5% develop cirhosis or liver cancer,"
-----------------------
I have watched several presentations from the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases as well as presentations from Clinical Care Options and others. Some of those researchers, writers, and/or speakers did state that the previous figures, the ones you have been reading, are low figures. The problem is that Hep C is not usually diagnosed until after several years and/or decades. They don't even know how many people have Hep C, let along how many will progress and how fast they will progress. No one has been doing routine testing. However, as the Baby Boomers age, it is becoming apparent that many of them are developing complications from Hep C, more than they thought would develop complications. Perhaps after they test al;l of the Baby Boomers and see where they stand in terms of fibrosis, maybe they will be able to publish data that is more accurate than the data we keep reading about, which is based on known cases only.


"Do you know anyone that hep c has caused Diabetes,lymph,ect... or any doctors that concur with your theory and has it been,proven or is it just an assumption"
-----------------------------------
It is not just my theory.

We have people on this forum who have Non Hodgkins Lymphoma which was Hep C triggered. We have a lot of people on the forum who developed Insulin Resistance and with it, Diabetes Type II. Even my blood sugar was trending up for no reason (other than Hep C). I also had systemic vasculitis with pericarditis, pleuritis, and hemolytic anemia, thanks to Hep C.

In addition, mortality from all causes is higher Hepatitis C infected people. (See article in my second post (which will follow this post).

I will post a couple of links. Hopefully you will read the articles and they will shed light on the Hep C induced health problems and the extrahepatic manifestations of Hep C.


This one is a PDF so I cannot copy and paste, but if you read it, you will see all of the diseases and extrahepatic manifestations Herp C can cause:

http://www.ccjm.org/content/72/11/1005.full.pdf


This one is also a PDF:

http://www.hcvadvocate.org/hepatitis/factsheets_pdf/Extrahepatic.pdf


For this one I copied only the disease names but the article is much longer and much more in depth.

http://www.hcvadvocate.org/hcsp/articles/Bonkovsky-2.html

Extrahepatic Manifestations of Chronic Hepatitis C

CRYOGLOBULINEMIA
The skin, kidney, nerves and joints can be affected by cryoglobulins. Cutaneous leukocytoclastic vasculitis is a skin lesion that appears as palpable purpura. Successful treatment of the hepatitis C infection with interferon (+ ribavirin) usually results in resolution of the skin lesions.
Cryoglobulins also affect the nervous system in some HCV infected patients. The most frequent symptoms and signs are those of chronic sensory polyneuropathy, although acute or subacute encephalopathy has been reported as well (2,3). “Restless leg syndrome” and Guillain-Barré syndrome have also been reported (4).

KIDNEY MANIFESTATIONS
The kidneys are also affected in some patients with hepatitis C. The most common kidney disease related to hepatitis C infection is membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis (MPGN) (6). Patients with MPGN usually complain of weakness, edema and have systemic arterial hypertension. Urine of such patients contains a lot of protein (>3.5 g/day), a condition called nephritic syndrome. ... Another kidney disease called membranous nephropathy (MN)

SKIN LESIONS
Porphyria cutanea tarda (PCT) is the most common form of the porphyrias, a group of diseases characterized by defects in one or more of the enzymes involved in the production of heme. .....
In a large case–control study of 34,204 veterans, lichen planus, vitiligo and PCT are the skin disorders that have been found to have significant association with HCV infection (9).

RHEUMATOLOGIC and AUTOIMMUNE MANIFESTATIONS
Myalgia (muscle pains), fatigue and arthralgias (joint pains) are common manifestations of HCV infection. HCV-related arthritis commonly presents as symmetrical inflammatory arthritis involving small joints.

Sjogren’s syndrome (SS), an autoimmune disease characterized by dry eyes and dry mouth has been found in some studies to be more common in HCV infected patients.

LYMPHOMA
B-cell non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) has been linked to HCV infection. This is probably due to the long-standing stimulation of B cells caused by chronic HCV infection, although other factors must be important because most patients with CHC do not develop such lymphomas. A high prevalence of HCV was found in patients with immunocytomas, a low-grade type of lymphoma, which was associated with cryoglobulinemia. Another study linked HCV infection and splenic B-cell lymphomas. Seven of nine patients with splenic lymphoma were treated with interferon monotherapy. Two patients who had detectable HCV RNA after treatment received combination therapy of interferon and ribavirin. All nine patients had sustained virological responses and had remission of their lymphoma, as well. On the other hand, six control patients with splenic lymphoma without HCV infection did not respond to interferon treatment at all (12).

EYE MANIFESTATIONS
HCV infection has been associated with several eye disorders. Keratoconjunctivitis sicca (dry eyes) is part of SS. Mooren’s ulcer is a rapidly progressive, painful ulceration of the cornea. A few cases of Mooren’s ulcer and HCV infection have been reported. In at least two of these patients, the ulcers did not respond to steroid and cyclosporine drops but did respond to interferon alfa-2b (13).

Like I said, this article is much longer so it is worthwhile reading to get more of the details.


Also, I will post another article in a separate post. This article state that the mortality from all causes is higher among HCV infected individuals;

[quayle]

Do you know anyone that hep c has caused Diabetes,lymph,ect... or any doctors that concur with yiur theory and has it been,proven or is it just an assumption,I'm very confused,I thought after twenty two years of study they would hve irrefutable evidence that all these things happen,but a large part of evrything I read has nothig to say stats most all just say 25% go on to have chronic liver disease and 5% develop cirhosis or liver cancer,I just don't know what to believe.

[pooh55811]

"Is the percentage rate high of hep c deaths,conpared to the numbers who live with it? "
--------------------------------------

The number of deaths caused by Hep C and the number people with End Stage Liver Disease caused by Hep C  are high enough that I did 48 weeks of triple medication treatment in the hopes of eradicating Hep C instead of doing nothing and gambling with me life.

And I agree with Hector that the statistic is "A pointless statistic if you happen to be the one to develop advanced cirrhosis of liver or liver cancer (HCC). "

Those stats that OrphanedHawk posted also do not include the number of people who die from diseases which were triggered or exacerbated by Hepatitis C. So if Hep C caused someone's diabetes or kidney disease or autoimmune disease or lymphoma or any one of multiple other diseases, and a person dies from that triggered disease, even though the death certificate states "diabetes" heart disease" lymphoma" or some other Hep C triggered disease, that it was Hep C that caused that death even though it does not state it on the death cert. In addition, many experts (articles and presentations) state that the percentage of people who go on to develop progressive disease and death from Hep C is considerably higher than previously thought.

Just to tag on to Can-do's statement, 20 years is not a magic number. People are different and the number of years can vary depending on several factors.  Some people progress faster than others.

[can-do-man]

I never knew it was written anywhere that it had to be 20 years.

[BoceprevirGal]

  I remember I asked my Doctor how many people would progress to Stage 2, afer 20 yrs, and I rember her saying quite a few, but havent seen any stats on that.
   I always feel like he whole "symptoms wont develope for 20 yrs" thing a little pointless to tell someone who has had it for over 20 yrs already , and many of us start having symptoms at that time~
   Since not everybody who has had Hep C for over 20 yrs, partakes in a liver biopsy, that stat is unknown, I suppose.

[orphanedhawk]

Here's the stats. Note that hep C is the number one cause of liver cancer, liver transplantation and kills more people in the US than AIDs.

When considering these stats remember that they do not include the people who would have died if they did not get a liver transplant.


http://www.cdc.gov/hepatitis/C/cFAQ.htm

Of every 100 people infected with the Hepatitis C virus, about

    75–85 people will develop chronic Hepatitis C virus infection; of those,
        60–70 people will go on to develop chronic liver disease
        5–20 people will go on to develop cirrhosis over a period of 20–30 years
        1–5 people will die from cirrhosis or liver cancer