Systemic manifestations of chronic hepatitis C - results from a study performed in a rheumatology clinic

Background Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) infection is frequently associated with several extrahepatic manifestations (EHM) and sometimes the articular, cutaneous or endocrine complains are the ones that first refer the patient to the physician and reveal the underlying hepatic disease. Patients with HCV show a broad spectrum of rheumatic manifestations such as arthritis/arthralgia, sicca, vasculitis or fatigue. The aim of the study is to determine the prevalence of EHM and that of rheumatic-EHM in a group of HCV-infected patients admitted to an internal medicine and rheumatology department and to identify the associations between the clinical and biologic manifestations.