Hepatitis C associated with low cholesterol levels

This study was published in the Journal of Viral Hepatitis 2006 Jan;13(1):56-61

Study title and authors:
Serum lipid pattern in chronic hepatitis C: histological and virological correlations.

Siagris D, Christofidou M, Theocharis GJ, Pagoni N, Papadimitriou C, Lekkou A, Thomopoulos K, Starakis I, Tsamandas AC, Labropoulou-Karatza C.
Department of Internal Medicine, Patras University Hospital, Patras, Greece. dsiagris@mland.gr

This study can be accessed at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16364083

The study investigated the association of cholesterol levels with the hepatitis C virus. The study included 155 patients with hepatitis C and 138 normal subjects.

The study found that the patients with hepatitis C had significantly lower levels of cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol than the normal subjects.

Links to other studies:
Low cholesterol associated with liver cancer
Low levels of cholesterol are predictive of higher rates of death in patients with end-stage renal disease
Low cholesterol levels are associated with lung disease