PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Sara Ramponi AU - Laura Balzarini AU - Chiara Mancini AU - Maurizio Marvisi TI - Accelerated decline in FEV1 in non- smoking subjects with chronic HCV infection AID - 10.1183/13993003.congress-2016.OA255 DP - 2016 Sep 01 TA - European Respiratory Journal PG - OA255 VI - 48 IP - suppl 60 4099 - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/48/suppl_60/OA255.short 4100 - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/48/suppl_60/OA255.full SO - Eur Respir J2016 Sep 01; 48 AB - It has been suggested that chronic and latent viral infection may increase the risk for development of COPD. This prospective five year longitudinal study was designed to determine if chronic HCV infection is associated with an accelerated decline in lung function in healthy non-smoking subjects. We studied 50 consecutive HCV positive subjects (second-generation enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) , the mean age was 47±17 yrs, 34 were male. We excluded patients with asthma, COPD and chronic lung diseases. They were free of pulmonary symptoms and had a negative history for occupational exposure. The control group was of 30 non-smoking healthy subjects matched for age and sex. The rate of annual decline in FEV1 was calculated for each subjects. The rate of annual decline in FEV1 during the five years follow-up was significantly higher in HCV patients (Δ FEV1 59.9 mLyear , SD 17.8; p< 0.0001) than in controls (ΔFEV1 31.5 mLyear, SD 7,7).The rate of annual decline in DL,co was similar (ΔDLCO, 3.37%/yr [SD, 0.25])in HCV group versus ( ΔDLCO, 2.63%/yr [SD, 0.30]) in controls. Our findings suggest that chronic HCV infection might accelerate decline in lung function. The cellular mechanisms predisposing those with chronic HCV infection to decline of lung function is unclear.