Ma SH, Tai YH, Dai YX, et al. - The risk of chronic inflammatory skin diseases (CISD) was significantly increased in patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, while interferon-based antiviral therapy (IFN-based AVT) was correlated with a decreased risk. These results imply monitoring of CISD in patients with HCV infection.

• Researchers recruited a total of 23,509 patients with HCV infection and 94,036 matched controls to explore the risk of CISD.

• They used a Cox regression model for the analyses.

• Patients with HCV infection had an adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) of 6.34 (95% confidence interval [CI], 5.30–7.58) for CISD after adjustment for potential confounders in comparison with controls.

• Regarding individual CISD, the data indicated that individuals with HCV infection had a significantly elevated risk of developing lichen planus, psoriasis, vitiligo, alopecia areata, and cutaneous lupus erythematosus.

• It was shown that interferon-based antiviral therapy (IFN-based AVT) was significantly correlated with a decreased risk of CISD (aHR = 0.42; 95% CI, 0.28–0.64).