Screening of Hepatitis B and C Infection in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) Patients

Objective: To screen the SLE cases for Hepatitis B and C virus infection. Study design: Cross Sectional Study. Settings: Sheikh Zayed Hospital and Medical college, Rahim Yar Khan. Duration: January 2018 to December 2018. Methodology: In this study the diagnosed cases of SLE of either gender and age were included. The cases were included that had a documented diagnosis of SLE either on clinical criteria for at least 1 year or more with or without treatment. Then these cases were assessed regarding their clinical and demographic features and their blood sample were drawn, 5 ml of blood was taken and sent to the laboratory of the same institute where they were checked for HBsAg to label for Hepatitis B virus and HCV antibodies to label HCV infection. All these results were then collected and recorded. Results: In the present study there were 39 cases diagnosed with SLE. The mean age of the participants was 27.13±7.29 years and mean duration of SLE was 5.13±1.36 years. There were 5 (12.82%) males and 34 (87.18%) females. Out of 39, 1 case (2.56%) had known history of prior infection with HBV and 3 cases (7.69%) of HCV infection. On screening overall HBsAg was seen in 3 cases (7.69%) and HCV antibodies in 08 cases (20.51%). Conclusion: HCV infection is more common than HBV and is almost 3 times more in SLE cases.