Table 1. Characteristics of the 331 patients included in the study and differences in characteristics according to 25 (OH) vitamin D sufficiency, potential risk of deficiency and risk of deficiency.
| Feature | All patients | >50 nmol/L, sufficiency | 30–50 nmol/L, potentially at risk of deficiency | <30 nmol/L, risk of deficiency | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| n = 331 | n = 197 (59.5%) | n = 113 (34.1%) | n = 21 (6.3%) | Unadjusted P-value | |
| Epidemiological features | |||||
| Age, mean (SD), years | 41.9 (10.8) | 41.7 (11.0) | 41.4 (10.9) | 46.3 (8.6) | 0.16 |
| Sex male n(%) | 200 (60.4) | 116 (59) | 71 (63) | 13 (62) | 0.78 |
| BMI, mean (SD), kg/m2 | 25.8 (4.4) | 25.4 (3.8) | 26.3 (4.8) | 27.6 (6.2) | 0.04 |
| Ethnicity, non-Caucasian n(%) | 16 (5) | 6 (3) | 6 (5) | 4 (19) | 0.003 |
| Characteristics of HCV infection | |||||
| Estimated duration of infection, median (range), years | 13 (1–60) | 13.5 (1–48) | 13.5 (1–41) | 10 (1–60) | 0.95 |
| HCV-RNA at baseline, mean (SD), log10 IU/mL | 6.0 (0.9) | 6.1 (0.8) | 6.0 (0.9) | 5.8 (1.0) | 0.33 |
| HCV genotype n (%), genotype 2/3/2+3 | 94/236/1 (28.4/71.3/0.3) | 51/145/1 (26/75/0) | 38/75 (34/66) | 5/16 (24/76) | 0.32 |
| Liver fibrosis Ishak stage, 0/1/2/3/4/5/6, n | 12/46/100/86/44/19/24 | 7/25/66/54/22/11/12 | 5/20/29/27/17/6/9 | 0/1/5/5/5/2/3 | 0.06 |
| Cirrhosis, n(%) | 43 (13) | 23 (12) | 15 (13) | 5 (24) | 0.29 |
| Liver interface hepatitis Ishak grade, 0/1/2/3/4, n | 20/104/127/74/6 | 15/58/79/43/2 | 4/41/39/27/2 | 1/5/9/4/2 | 0.61 |
| Liver lobular inflammation Ishak grade, 0/1/2/3/4, n | 1/72/194/61/3 | 1/41/121/32/2 | 0/25/66/21/1 | 0/6/7/8/0 | 0.69 |
| Liver portal inflammation Ishak grade, 0/1/2/3/4, n | 14/154/135/28/0 | 9/96/71/21/0 | 5/48/55/5/0 | 0/10/9/2/0 | 0.82 |
| Liver steatosis score, 0/1/2/3, n | 113/128/54/36 | 77/68/33/19 | 31/54/15/15 | 5/6/6/4 | 0.07 |
| APRI-score, mean (SD), score | 1.1 (1.2) | 1.0 (1.1) | 1.0 (1.0) | 1.52 (2.1) | 0.18 |
| Treatment regimens and response | |||||
| 12/24week Peg-IFN + ribavirin, n(%) | 163/168 (49.2/50.8) | 103/94 (52/48) | 50/63 (44/56) | 10/11 (48/52) | 0.39 |
| SVR rate, n(%) | 224 (68) | 132 (67) | 82 (73) | 10 (48) | 0.08 |
| Season | |||||
| Sunny season at sampling n(%) | 226 (68) | 143 (73) | 71 (63) | 12 (57) | 0.10 |
| Host geneticsa | |||||
| Vitamin D3 receptor (VDR) Gene rs2228570 (Fok1), CC/CT/TT, n(%) | 118/147/50 (37/47/16) | 73/88/31 (38/46/16) | 38/53/15 (36/50/15) | 7/6/4(35/35/24) | 0.78 |
| Vitamin D3 receptor (VDR) Gene rs7975232 (ApaI), CC/AC/AA, n(%) | 53/152/108 (17/49/34) | 35/85/71 (18/45/37) | 17/56/32 (16/53/30) | 1/11/5 (6/65/29) | 0.34 |
| CYP27B-1260 Gene Promotor rs10877012, TT/TG/GG, n(%) | 127/149/39 (40/47/12) | 80/90/22 (42/47/11) | 39/53/14 (37/50/13) | 8/6/3 (47/35/18) | 0.76 |
| Serum 25 (OH)D levels | |||||
| Serum 25 (OH)D, mean (SD), nmol/L | 58.9 (22.5) | ||||
| <25 nmol/L, n(%) | 9 (2.7) | ||||
| > 75 nmol/L n(%) | 75 (22.7) |
HCV, hepatitis C virus; APRI, AST to platelet ratio; Peg-IFN, pegylated interferon; SD, standard deviation; SVR, sustained virologic response.a bOnly patients with Caucasian ethnicity were included in the analysis.