Study the impact of cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection and the risk factor for liver dysfunction in Saudi patients

Human cytomegalovirus (CMV) is the leading infectious cause of congenital infection in developing countries. However, the pathogenesis of CMV infection is poorly understood. Worldwide, CMV seropositivity varies with age and sex, but data related to these variations are lacking. Here, we examined the variation in CMV seroprevalence in three different age groups of Saudi population in an attempt to understand the variation in the relationship between CMV infection seroprevalence with age and study the risk factor liver dysfunction. Serum samples for 455 patients with elevation of liver profiles (ALT, AST, ALP and GGT) were screened for CMV- IgG and IgM and categorized in different age groups. A correlation between CMV seropositivity measured with IgG and IgMand liver enzymes were tested. Receiver operating characteristics (ROC) analysis and multiple regressions were used for data analysis. Our study shows that young people (18-25 years) had much higher IgG and IgM compared to elderly people (26 -35 and 36-45 years). A significant correlation between both antibodies and liver enzymes (AST, ALT) was recorded. Receiver operating characteristics (ROC) analysis revealed that both IgG and IgM can be used as excellent predictive markers for CMV infection as both recorded 100% specificity and sensitivity together with area under the curve of 1 in the three studied research groups. Multiple regression analysis ascertain the correlation between both antibodies as dependent variables and liver enzymes as independent variables with ALT being the most affected enzyme with CMV seropositivity. This study strongly ascertains that CMV is indeed capable of initiating and accelerating liver dysfunction especially in young people. Serological screening of individuals who are asymptomatic based on a detection of CMV-IgG and IgMmight help in early diagnosis and intervention to avoid liver disorder as cirrhosis and other complications related to CMV infection, which are associated with ALT, AST and GGT elevation.