Picolinic Acid in Patients with Chronic Hepatitis C Infection: A Preliminary Report

Table 4

Comparison between the patients of the whole group (CHC patients with and without diabetes) and nondiabetes CHC patients classified according to the finding of low (≤3.14 μmol/L) and high (>3.14 μmol/L) levels of picolinic acid (PA).

	CHC patients (𝑛=51)		CHC patients without diabetes (𝑛=29)
	PA ≤ 3.14 μmol/L	PA > 3.14 μmol/L	PA ≤ 3.14 μmol/L	PA > 3.14 μmol/L
n (%)	28 (54)	23 (46)	16 (56)	13 (44)
Age (years)	40 (18–52)	42 (26–65)	42 (21–60)	43 (18–58)
BMI (kg/m^2)	24.9 (22–31)	25.7 (23–27)	24.8 (22–28)	26 (23–29)
hsCRP (mg/L)	2.4 (0.51–2.9)	3.7^+ (0.22–4.45)	0.88 (0.25–1.9)	1.0 (0.22–1.75)
HbA1c(%)	5.8 (5.0–7.9)	7.0^++ (5.4–9.8)	—	—
Diabetes n (%)	5 (10)	17 (33)^++	—	—
Total cholesterol (mg/dL)	165 (154–198)	178.2 (161–209)	173.8 (161–196)	168.5 (164–209)
LDL cholesterol (mg/dL)	84 (78–102)	86 (80–141)	102 (96–139)	98 (95–141)
HDL cholesterol (mg/dL)	37 (33–49)	36 (30–52)	37 (33.0–49.5)	38.6 (34–52)
Triglycerides (mg/dL)	85 (76–150)	87 (80–183)	84 (76–148)	81 (79–137)
ALT (U/L)	43 (10–319)	57 (10–392)	42 (20–137)	53.7 (20–144)
AST (U/L)	35 (12–143)	45 (16–272)	33.5 (20–87)	35 (20–97)
γ-GT (U/L)	29 (9.0–101)	34 (12–321)	28.7 (10.0–99.7)	32.7 (14–309)

Significance between groups: ⁺𝑃<0.05; ⁺⁺𝑃<0.01 by multivariate analysis. AST, aspartate aminotransferase; ALT, alanine aminotransferase; γGT, gamma glutamyltransferase; hsCRP, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein.