FREQUENCY OF BICYTOPENIA IN CHRONIC HCV PRE TREATMENT CASES

Abstract

Background: Platelets are blood cells that participate in wound healing and blood clotting. When their number decreases below 150,000/?L, this is known as thrombocytopenia. Thrombocytopenia may have no risk at all or it may lead to the risk of bleeding and thrombosis. To the best of our knowledge, no study has been undertaken on the frequency of bicytopenia in chronic HCV pretreatment cases in our local population.
Objective: The objective is to investigate the occurrence rate of bicytopenia among chronic Hepatitis C Virus patients prior to treatment within our community.
Methodology: A cross-sectional study was carried out in the General Medicine department at Hayatabad Medical Complex in Peshawar spanning from May 5th, 2022, to November 5th, 2022. The study included a total of 103 patients of both genders who were suffering from the chronic hepatitis C virus. The Sysmex Analyzer was used to measure the complete blood count. For an exact count of platelets, a peripheral smear was used. Data regarding bicytopenia was noted as per the operational definition and recorded.
Results: On average, the patients included in this study were 45.980 years old with a standard deviation of 6.73 years, and they had been dealing with HCV for an average duration of 21.359 months with a standard deviation of 6.34 months. Bicytopenia was observed in 21.4% of patients.
Conclusion: HCV patients show a high frequency of bicytopenia, indicating a significant association