LIPID SPECTRUM AND SEX HORMONES CONTENT IN PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC HEPATITIS C
Aim. To study the lipid metabolism indexes and sex hormones level in the blood serum of patients with chronic hepatitis C. Materials and methods. The content of hormones and lipid metabolism were determined in 33 patients with chronic hepatitis C. Among them 27 (81.8 %) were men and 6 (18.2 %) were women with an average of 39.27 ± 1.53 years old. The study of plasma lipid profile (total cholesterol, triglyceride, high-density lipoproteins, low-density and very low-density lipoproteins) was carried out using enzymic photometric methods. The study of blood hormone levels was carried out by the dual-wavelength fluorescent detection. Results. Reliable lipid metabolism violations were revealed, namely significant increase in triglyceride, low-density lipoproteins, very low-density lipoproteins and decrease in high-density lipoproteins in the blood serum of patients with chronic hepatitis C. Total cholesterol level in patients with chronic hepatitis C had no significant difference with that of the control group patients (P > 0.05). There was significant 2,7 times (P < 0.001) increase in serum progesterone in men and its significant 1.86 times (P < 0.05) decrease in women with chronic hepatitis C. There was no significant difference in serum testosterone level parameters between men with chronic hepatitis C and the control group (P > 0.05), while there was significant 2.98 times decrease in serum testosterone in women with chronic hepatitis C compared to the control group (P < 0.001). In patients with chronic hepatitis C a decreasing tendency in the serum estradiol was determined in men (P > 0.05) and its significant reduction in the serum of women (P < 0.01) compared to the control group. Conclusions. Violations of lipid metabolism have been determined in patients with chronic hepatitis C in terms of significant increase in triglyceride (P < 0.001), low-density lipoproteins (P < 0.001), very low-density lipoproteins (P < 0.001) and decrease in high-density lipoproteins (P < 0.001) in the blood serum. Disorders of sexual hormones levels have been revealed in the examined patients, namely decrease in serum progesterone (P < 0.05), testosterone (P < 0.001) and estradiol (P < 0.01) in women and increase in serum progesterone (P < 0.001) in men.