Association between hepatitis c virus antibody, hepatitis b virus antigen and fibromiyalgia

A Gür, M Karakoç, MF Geyik, K Nas, R Çevik, AJ Saraç, S Em, F ErdoganPhysical Therapy and Rehabilitation, Infection Disease, Dicle University, Diyarbakyr, TurkeyBackground Although Hepatitis B virus and hepatitis C virus infections have been associated with several autoantibodies, the relationship between HCV, HBV infections and autoimmun response and autoimmune diseases remains unknown. In the literature there are suspectible results related to antibody positivity against HCV and antigen positivity HBV in cases with fibromiyalgia syndrome and rheumatoid arthritis. Objectives The objective was to determine whether there might be association between HBs-Ag, anti-HCV and fibromyalgia. Methods We determined the prevalence of Anti-HCV, in 51 fibromiyalgia patients, in comparison 35 rheumatoid arthritis patients from the Dicle University Hospital. Results Among 51 patients with fibromyalgia, we detected 10 patients (19.6%) with HBs-Ag and 1 (1.96%) anti-HCV antibody, whereas we found no HBs-Ag and anti-HCV antibody among in all of the rheumatoid arthritis cases. We found statistically significant difference when we compared the HBs-Ag positivity established in fibromiyalgia cases with those in healthy blood donors (which is found to be 4.87% in our region) and cases with rheumatoid arthritis (p < 0.05). Also, there was not any difference in terms of anti-HCV antibody positivity between the fibromiyalgia and rheumatoid arthritis, healthy blood donors (p > 0.05). Conclusion In conclusion, our study suggest that there may exist an association between fibromiyalgia and HBs-Ag. In addition, our data do not support the hypothesis that HCV infection may play a role in the pathogenesis of fibromyalgia. Citation: Ann Rheum Dis, volume 60, supplement 1, year 2001, page A235Session: Fibromyalgia