***TASK*** the task is to summarize an input biomedical literature in six sentences 
    ***INPUT*** the input is a biomedical literature 
    ***OUTPUT*** the output is the summary of an input biomedical literature in six sentences 
    ***DOCUMENTATION*** 
    ***EXAMPLES*** 
    Input: Background Chronic kidney disease ( CKD ) and hepatitis C virus ( HCV ) infection are closely linked and both increase patient mortality . The association of HCV and risk of developing end-stage renal disease ( ESRD ) has not been analyzed with competing risk model . Method We enrolled a prospect i ve cohort of 4,185 patients ( mean age , 62 years ; 41 % female ) registered in the CKD integrated care program at two affiliated hospitals of Kaohsiung Medical University in Taiwan between November 11 , 2002 and May 31 , 2009 . With competing risk model , we analyzed the association of HCV infection , defined by seropositive of anti-HCV antibody , and hepatitis B virus ( HBV ) infection , defined by seropositive of HBV surface antigen , with the risk of entering ESRD . Results The prevalence of HCV infection was 7.6 % and it increased with the CKD stages ( trend test , P<0.001 ) , while the prevalence of HBV infection was 7.4 % and no specific trend among CKD stages ( tend test , P = 0.1 ) . During the 9,101 person-year follow-up period , there were 446 death and 1,205 patients entering ESRD . After adjusting death as the competing risk , the estimated 5-year cumulative incidence rate of ESRD among patients with and without HCV infection were 52.6 % and 38.4 % , respectively ( modified log-rank , P<0.001 ) . Multivariable analysis showed that HCV infection , but not HBV infection , had higher risk of developing ESRD compared with cases without infection ( HCV , HR : 1.32 , 95 % CI : 1.07–1.62 ; HBV , HR : 1.10 , 95 % CI : 0.89–1.35 ) . Subgroup analyses showed consistent results . Conclusions With death-adjusted competing risk analysis , HCV infection is associated with an increased risk of developing ESRD in CKD cohort UNLABELLED Health-related quality of life ( HRQOL ) is impaired in chronic viral hepatitis and a direct role of the virus , although suggested , has not been demonstrated . Our aim was to evaluate  HRQOL at blood donation before knowledge of the diagnosis of both hepatitis C virus ( HCV ) and hepatitis B virus ( HBV ) so as to eluci date this matter . METHODS Prospect ively , 67 sequential patients , 35 with HCV and 32 with HBV , and 67 matched controls were administered the generic Short Form-36 ( SF-36 ) question naire . After knowledge of diagnosis , the SF-36 was repeated and a disease-specific question naire ( Liver Disease Quality of Life , LDQOL-1.0 ) was also administered . The Wilcoxon test and Mann-Whitney U were used for between-group comparisons . RESULTS Before knowledge of diagnosis , patients with HCV had worse HRQOL than controls , with statistically significant changes in 7/8 domains of the SF-36 , and also in its physical and mental components . In the HBV group , only 2/8 domains and the physical component were significantly different from controls . After diagnosis , similar changes persisted in the HCV group , whereas two more domains were compromised in the HBV group . Comparisons between the HCV and HBV groups did not show significant differences . CONCLUSION The finding of greater HRQOL impairment in the HCV group before diagnosis confirms the theory that the presence of HCV in the early stage of the disease is associated with worse quality of life Background Fatigue is a common symptom of chronic hepatitis C virus ( HCV ) infection and a frequent side-effect of peginterferon/ribavirin ( PR ) therapy for HCV . This study evaluated the impact of adding the oral HCV NS3/4A protease inhibitor simeprevir to PR on patient-reported fatigue and health status among patients with chronic HCV genotype 1 infection enrolled in the Phase IIb PILLAR and ASPIRE trials [ NCT00882908 ; NCT00980330 ] . Methods Treatment-naïve patients ( PILLAR , n = 386 ) and treatment-experienced patients ( ASPIRE , n = 462 ) were r and omized to simeprevir plus PR ( simeprevir/PR ) or placebo plus PR ( placebo/PR ) . In PILLAR , duration of PR treatment in the simeprevir/PR groups was determined using response-guided therapy ( RGT ) criteria . PR could be terminated at Week 24 , instead of Week 48 , if HCV RNA was < 25 IU/mL by Week 4 and then undetectable at Weeks 12 , 16 , and 20 . In both studies , patients completed the Fatigue Severity Scale ( FSS ) and EQ-5D quality -of-life question naire in their native language at baseline and throughout the studies up until Week 72 . Results During the first 24 weeks of treatment , mean FSS total score was increased to a similar degree compared with baseline among patients receiving simeprevir/PR or placebo/PR in both studies indicating increased fatigue severity . Mean FSS scores returned to values comparable with baseline among patients receiving simeprevir/PR after Week 24 in PILLAR ( after treatment completion for the majority of patients ) and in ASPIRE ( after Week 48 ) , consistent with RGT enabling early termination of all treatment at Week 24 in 82.2 % of simeprevir/PR-treated patients in the PILLAR study . Similar results were observed for EQ-5D , with simeprevir/PR-treated patients experiencing less time with worse health problems according to EQ-5D scores compared with placebo/PR groups in both studies , and more rapid improvement in health status associated with shorter treatment duration in the PILLAR study . Conclusions Combination of simeprevir with PR did not increase patient-reported fatigue severity or health status impairments beyond that reported by patients treated with PR alone . Many patients treated with simeprevir/PR returned to pretreatment fatigue and health status levels sooner due to increased treatment efficacy that enabled shorter duration of all therapy , compared with PR alone OBJECTIVE The aim of this investigation was to determine if an association exists between hepatitis C virus and oral lichen planus . STUDY DESIGN Three groups of subjects were selected : 505 patients with hepatitis C virus infection ( group 1 ) , 100 patients with oral lichen planus ( group 2 ) , and a r and omly selected control group ( age- and gender-matched ) of 100 healthy subjects ( group 3 ) . The prevalence of oral lichen planus was determined in groups 1 and 3 , and the prevalence of hepatitis C virus infection was established in groups 2 and 3 . RESULTS The prevalence of oral lichen planus was 3.36 % ( n = 17 ) in group 1 and 1 % ( n = 1 ) in the control group ; the prevalence of hepatitis C virus infection was 23 % ( n = 23 ) in group 2 , and 5 % ( n = 5 ) in the control group . No significant differences were observed in the incidence of oral lichen planus in group 1 between those patients who received interferon and those who did not . The 17 patients in group 1 who manifested oral lichen planus and hepatitis C virus infection simultaneously exhibited a marked tendency to have only reticular lesions ( 70.6 % ) , with involvement of the buccal mucosa in 88.2 % of these patients , the tongue in 29.4 % , and the gingiva in 11.8 % . Analyzing a r and omized subgroup of 143 patients from group 1 ( subgroup 1 ) that was matched by age and gender with groups 2 and 3 , we found that the incidence of oral lichen planus in patients with hepatitis C virus infection ( subgroup 1 ) was greater than in the control group ( 5.59 % vs 1 % ) , though this was not statistically significant ( chi2 = 0.119 ; p = 0.06 ) . In contrast , group 2 exhibited a statistically significant higher incidence of hepatitis C virus infection ( 23 % ) than the controls ( 5 % ; chi2 = 0.259 , p = 0.0002 ) . CONCLUSIONS The prevalence of hepatitis C virus infection in patients with oral lichen planus was greater than in the control series . In our opinion this observation warrants the investigation of potential concomitant hepatitis C virus infection in patients with oral lichen planus BACKGROUND / AIMS Chronic hepatitis C virus infection is frequently associated with mixed cryoglobulinemia . The efficacy of interferon-alpha treatment in the presence of cryoglobulinemia , particularly the rate of sustained responders , has not yet been well defined . METHODS Fifty-nine consecutive patients with chronic HCV infection were studied prospect ively with regard to the presence of cryoglobulinemia and their biochemical and virological response to interferon-alpha2a therapy . RESULTS Cryoglobulins were detected in sera of 23 patients . For this latter group of patients , significant differences were found compared to the 36 patients without cryoglobulinemia , i.e. the prevalence of female sex was higher , the duration of liver disease was longer and distinctive laboratory abnormalities , e.g. higher rheumatoid factor activity , were noted as well as a higher prevalence of cirrhosis . The distribution of HCV genotypes and serum HCV RNA titers was similar in the two groups . Interferon-alpha treatment regimens were not different regarding mean cumulative dose and mean duration of therapy . The response to therapy was almost identical , i.e. 35 % of patients with cryoglobulinemia showed a sustained response compared to 22 % of patients without cryoglobulinemia . The percentages of patients showing a relapse or breakthrough were similar in both groups . Pre-treatment viremia levels were higher in non-responders compared to sustained responders . Non-responders appeared to be more frequent among patients infected with genotypes 1a and 1b , especially among male patients without cryoglobulinemia . CONCLUSIONS The presence of cryoglobulinemia per se in chronic HCV-infected patients does not adversely affect the outcome of interferon-alpha therapy , including the rate of sustained response The association of hepatitis C virus ( HCV ) infection with  chronic kidney disease ( CKD ) remains widely debated . Here we quantify this association by analysis of data from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Data base and ICD-9 codes to identify 9430 adults with newly diagnosed HCV ( years 1999 - 2006 ) and r and omly selected 37,720 matched non-HCV control individuals . The incidence rate and risk of incident CKD were evaluated through the end of 2010 . The frequency of CKD was 1.66-fold higher in the HCV than the non-HCV cohort ( 5.46 compared with 3.43 per 1000 person-years ) , and the adjusted hazard ratio remained significant at 1.28 ( 95 % confidence interval , 1.12 - 1.46 ) . A multivariate analysis was used to determine the influence of HCV on CKD risk with regard to age , gender , follow-up duration , and comorbidities . The risk for CKD in HCV-infected individuals was higher with diabetes , hyperlipidemia , and cirrhosis ( 8.44 ; 3.70 - 19.23 ) , followed by men<50 years ( 2.32 ; 1.49 - 3.61 ) , all individuals<50 years ( 1.90 ; 1.33 - 2.73 ) , men overall ( 1.44 ; 1.22 - 1.71 ) , and individuals followed for ≥6 years ( 1.35 ; 1.06 - 1.71 ) ; all with considerable significance . Thus , HCV infection is associated with an increased risk of CKD . Hence , high-risk HCV-infected individuals should be aggressively monitored for development of CKD Background Hepatitis C virus ( HCV ) infection and chronic kidney disease ( CKD ) have high prevalences in Taiwan and worldwide , but the role of HCV infection in causing CKD remains uncertain . This cohort study aim ed to explore this association . Methods This nationwide cohort study examined the association of HCV with CKD by analysis of sample d cl aims data from Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Data base from 1998 to 2004 . ICD-9 diagnosis codes were used to identify diseases . We extracted data of 3182 subjects who had newly identified HCV infection and no traditional CKD risk factors and data of r and omly selected 12728 matched HCV-uninfected control subjects .  Each subject was tracked for 6 years from the index date to identify incident CKD cases . Cox proportional hazard regression was used to determine the risk of CKD in the HCV-infected and control groups . Results The mean follow-up duration s were 5.88 years and 5.92 years for the HCV-infected and control groups , respectively . Among the sample of 15910 subjects , 251 subjects ( 1.6 % ) developed CKD during the 6-year follow-up period , 64 subjects ( 2.0 % ) from the HCV-infected group and 187 subjects ( 1.5 % ) from the control group . The incidence rate of CKD was significantly higher in the HCV-infected group than in the control group ( 3.42 vs. 2.48 per 1000 person-years , p = 0.02 ) . Multivariate analysis indicated that the 
    Output:
    
HRQL data showed that HCV infection had negative effects on overall physical and mental health .