Prognostic factors of hepatic decompensation and hepatocellular carcinoma in patients with transfusion-acquired HCV infection

Aims Aim of this study was to assess if host (immunogenetic traits, age, sex), exogenous (alcohol) or viral factors (viral type, past HBV infection) might affect the progression of chronic hepatitis C to liver decompensation or the development of HCC in a cohort of patients exposed to a single blood transfusion prior to the introduction of anti‐HCV screening. Methods Two hundred and forty‐eight patients with a history of a single exposure to blood or blood products prior to 1990 were retrospectively considered. Patients were devoid of other risk factors of liver disease or immunosuppression and naïve to antiviral therapies. Eight baseline variables were assessed: age at transfusion, sex, HBV core antibody, immunogenetic profile (DRB1*11, DRB1*1104, DRB1*07), HCV genotype and alcohol consumption. Results The follow‐up was 22 (SD: 11) years. Sixty‐eight patients (27%) progressed to hepatic decompensation over a median period of 22.5 years (IQR: 14–30) and 41 patients (16%) developed HCC over a median period of 31 years (IQR: 24–38). The cumulative incidence of liver failure was 0.4% (95% CI: 0.1–3.1), 4.9% (95% CI: 2.6–9.3) and 16.2% (95% CI: 10.4–24.7) at 10, 20 and 30 years after blood transfusion respectively. By univariate analysis, only age at transfusion was correlated with the risk of decompensation. Stratifying the age of transfusion by tertiles, the incidence of hepatic decompensation was 0.7% per year in patients transfused at ≤24 years of age as compared to 1.2% and 1.9% per year in those transfused at 25–35 and >36 years of age respectively (HR: 5.5, 95% CI: 2.78–10.7, P