THE ASPARTATE AMINOTRANSFERASE TO ALANINE AMINOTRANSFERASE RATIO AND HCV INFECTION

M.A, Habib; W. A, Al-Kubaisy

	THE ASPARTATE AMINOTRANSFERASE TO ALANINE AMINOTRANSFERASE RATIO AND HCV INFECTION
IRAQI JOURNAL OF MEDICAL SCIENCES
Article 1, Volume 4, Issue 1, 2005, Pages 18-20
Authors
Habib M.A; Al-Kubaisy W. A
Abstract
Background: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is responsible for the majority of cases of post-transfusion hepatitis. Biochemical analysis of liver enzymes used to estimate the severity of liver injury in HCV infected patients. Objective: To estimate the aspartate aminotransferase to alanine aminotransferase (AST/ALT) ratio as non-invasive parameter for assessment of liver injury in HCV infected patients. Methods: Two groups of subjects were included in this study. 238 thalassemic children from Al-Zahrawi Hospital (172 were seropositive and 66 were seronegative for HCV specific antibody) and 58 pregnant women (32 were seropositive and 26 were seronegative for HCV specific antibody) as a control group. Serum AST and ALT and AST/ALT ratio levels estimated for each subject. Results: The mean serum AST/ALT ratio levels for anti-HCV seropositive and seronegative thalassemic children were 3.38  4.34 and 2.56  3.09 respectively, while for anti-HCV seropositive and seronegative pregnant women 1.62  1.34 and 0.59  0.42 respectively. Conclusion: The mean serum AST/ALT ratio is higher among HCV infected subjects than among the non-HCV infected ones. Keywords: aspartate aminotransferase to alanine aminotransferase ratio, Hepatitis C virus
Keywords
aspartate aminotransferase to alanine aminotransferase ratio; Hepatitis C virus

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