ABSTRACT
Background and aim of work: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients with concomitant hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection tend to have higher disease activity than patients with no HCV. In this retrospective study, we aimed to explore the potential outcome of elimination of HCV on RA disease activity in the patients with comorbidity of RA and HCV infection.

Methods: This is a retrospective study. The medical records of 55 RA patients with concomitant HCV infection were reviewed. RA clinical and laboratory parameters of RA activity and disease activity score-28 (DAS28) were obtained from the medical records before the initiation of the anti-viral treatment and 12-weeks after completing antiviral therapy for HCV.
Results: After treatment, the sustained virological response 12-weeks (SVR12) was achieved in 83.6% of the patients. Good and moderate response based on EULAR response criteria was achieved in 76% of the RA patients. In RA patients achieved SVR12, there was a significant post-treatment decline in the RA activity parameters including morning stiffness duration (p