ABSTRACT

Objective: Interferon therapy is widely used for patients with chronic viral hepatitis B and C (CHB-C). It is known that thyroid gland dysfunction (TD) may develop secondary to interferon treatment, but different frequencies of TD development are reported in the literature. For this reason, we aimed to investigate the incidence of TD developing secondary to interferon treat ment in patients with CHB-C, treated in our clinic, and identify possible influencing factors.

Methods: A total of 93 CHB-C patients treated with interferon were included in this study. Tests of thyroid functions (thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), FT3, FT4), thyroid auto-antibodies (Anti-Tg, Anti-TPO) were done before starting interferon treatment, during, and after treat ment. Patients who did not have normal thyroid gland functions were not included in this study.

Results: TD was observed to develop in a total of 20 patients (21.5%). TD had developed in the first six months after initiation of interferon therapy. In 18.3% of these patients, the condition was temporary, while 3.2% of patients required treatment for TD. The most frequently seen condition was the subclinical types. Age (over 40 years) (OR: 7.25 95% CI: 1.46, 35.80, p = 0.015) and sex (female) (OR: 5.83 95% CI: 1.31, 25.76, p = 0.020) were found to be statisti cally significant independent risk factors in TD development.

Conclusion: Although TD secondary to interferon treatment in patients with CHB-C may develop in a substantial proportion of cases, most of these cases are temporary and do not require TD treatment. Independent risk factors in TD development were found to be sex and age.