Impact of age on autoimmune hepatitis: A comparative study of patients diagnosed before and after sixty

Table 1 Sociodemographic characterization and comorbidities of patients with autoimmune hepatitis according to age of diagnosis, n (%)

	Younger than 60 years (n = 57)	Older than 60 years (n = 40)	P value
Age (years) [median (interquartile range)]	45 (18-59)	66 (60-83)	< 0.001
Gender			0.058
Female	52 (91)	31 (77)
Male	6 (9)	9 (23)
Comorbidities
Hypertension	8 (14)	14 (35)	0.015
Cardiovascular disease	0 (0)	5 (13)	0.006
Type 2 diabetes mellitus	4 (7)	9 (23)	0.028
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease	1 (2)	0 (0)	-
Malignancy	1 (2)	0 (0)	-
Hypothyroidism	16 (28)	11 (27)	0.951
Dyslipidemia	7 (12)	6 (15)	0.699

Table 2 Variables related to the presentation of autoimmune hepatitis according to the age of diagnosis, n (%)

	Younger than 60 years (n = 57)	Older than 60 years (n = 40)	P value
Type of presentation of autoimmune hepatitis			0.391
Asymptomatic	8 (14)	10 (25)
Insidious	25 (44)	15 (37.5)
Acute	24 (42)	15 (37.5)
Debut symptoms
Jaundice	43 (75)	17 (44)	0.002
Fatigue	33 (58)	12 (31)	0.009
Pruritus	10 (18)	2 (5)	0.071
Arthralgia	10 (18)	3 (8)	0.156
Ascites	1 (2)	5 (13)	0.028
Encephalopathy	0 (0)	1 (3)	-
Laboratory at diagnosis [median (interquartile range)]
Aspartate aminotransferase	1016 (581-1301)	299 (100-746)	0.0008
Alanine aminotransferase	998 (464-1438)	334 (76-770)	0.0002
Alkaline phosphatases	196 (146-254)	258 (143-394)	0.475
Total bilirubin	4.7 (2.5-7.8)	1.8 (1.1-6.7)	0.022
Albumin	3.7 (3.3-4.2)	3.4 (3.2-3.9)	0.128
Serology at diagnosis
Immunoglobulin G [median (interquartile range)]	2020 (1740-2380)	1810 (1410-2440)	0.198
Anti-nuclear antibodies (positive)	48 (87)	35 (92)	0.460
Anti-smooth muscle antibodies (positive)	33 (60)	23 (59)	0.920
Hepatic biopsy
Presence of fibrosis	37 (65)	37 (93)	0.002
Advanced fibrosis F3-F4	15 (41)	25 (68)	0.020
Prednisone doses			< 0.001
Without prednisone	0 (0)	2 (5)
10-20 mg	0 (0)	10 (25)
20-40 mg	16 (28)	12 (30)
40-60 mg	41 (72)	16 (40)
Pharmacological treatment at 6 months			-
Without prednisone	0	2
Prednisone only	0	0
Prednisone + azathioprine	55	32
Prednisone + mycophenolate	2	5
Prednisone + tacrolimus	0	1

Table 3 Response to treatment of patients with autoimmune hepatitis according to age of diagnosis, n (%)

	Younger than 60 years (n = 57)	Older than 60 years (n = 40)	P value
Aminotransferases
Normalization at 6 months	26 (46)	17 (43)	0.761
Normalization at 12 months	42 (74)	29 (70)	0.690
Time to normalization (months) [median (IQR)]	6 (4-10)	6 (4.5-8)	0.799
Immunoglobulin G
Normalization at 6 months	38 (67)	20 (56)	0.440
Time to normalization (months) [median (IQR)]	5 (3-7)	4.5 (2.5-7)	0.960

IQR: Interquartile range.