Different Hepatitis C Virus Infection Statuses Show a Significant Risk of Developing Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: A Network Meta-Analysis

Background: The role of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection statuses in the development of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) has not been completely understood. Aim: To evaluate the prevalence of T2DM in patients with different HCV infection statuses. Methods: We conducted a systematic study on T2DM risk in five types of individuals with different HCV infection statuses: non-HCV controls, HCV-cleared patients, chronic HCV patients without cirrhosis, patients with HCV cirrhosis and patients with decompensated HCV cirrhosis. Studies published from 2010 to 2019 were selected. Both pairwise and network meta-analyses were employed to compare the T2DM risk among patients with different HCV infection statuses. Results: The pairwise meta-analysis showed that non-HCV (OR = 0.60, 95% CI [0.47–0.78]) had a lower risk of T2DM compared with CHC, while cirrhosis had a significant higher risk (OR = 1.90, 95% CI [1.60–2.26]). Network meta-analysis further demonstrated patients with HCV infection were at a significantly higher risk of T2DM than those without HCV infection or with HCV clearance, while decompensated cirrhosis had a significant higher T2DM risk than non-HCV (OR = 3.84, 95% CI [2.01–7.34]), patients with HCV clearance (OR = 3.17, 95% CI [1.49–6.73]), and CHC patients (OR = 2.21, 95% CI [1.24–3.94]). Conclusions: HCV infection is a significant risk factor for developing T2DM. CHC, cirrhosis, and decompensated cirrhosis contribute to an increasingly greater risk of T2DM, but HCV clearance spontaneously or through clinical treatment may immediately reduce the risk of the onset and development of T2DM.