Black Women With Both HIV, Hep C Less Likely to Die From Liver Disease

Study compared black, white and Hispanic women with both viruses.

FRIDAY, Nov. 9 (HealthDay News) -- Black women infected with both hepatitis C virus (HCV) and HIV are less likely to die from liver disease than white or Hispanic women with the two infections, a new study finds.

University of California, San Francisco researchers looked at 794 U.S. women with HIV/HCV co-infection. During an average follow-up of nearly nine years, 438 of the women died, 37 percent from HIV/AIDS and 11 percent from liver disease.

The death rate was nearly 56 percent for blacks, 56 percent for whites, and 52 percent for Hispanics. Liver disease was the primary cause of death in 21 percent of Hispanics, 14 percent of whites and 8 percent of blacks.

The study was published in the November issue of the journal Hepatology.

Further research is needed to determine why black women with HIV and HCV are less likely to die of liver disease than white or Hispanic women with HIV/HCV co-infection, study author Dr. Monika Sarkar said in a journal news release.

About 5 million Americans are infected with HCV, including one-third of people with HIV, the release noted. HCV infection is the second leading cause of death in people with HIV.

More information

The U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has more about hepatitis C.