Aim: To determine the frequency of thrombocytopenia in hepatitis c patients presenting at tertiary care hospital.

Methods: This cross sectional study was conducted at Department of Physiology in collaboration with Department of Medicine, Bahawal Victoria Hospital, Bahawalpur from March 2020 to September 2020 over the period of 6 months. Total 150 of hepatitis C, either male or female having age 20-60 years were included. Thrombocytopenia was assessed in selected patients.

Results: In this study mean age of the patients was 44±12.38 years. Out of 150 patients of hepatitis C, thrombocytopenia was present in 48(32%) patients. In age group 20-40 years, thrombocytopenia was found in 14(26.92%) patients while in age group 41-60 years, thrombocytopenia was seen in 34(34.69%) patients. No statistically significant association of thrombocytopenia with age group was detected with p value 0.332. Male patients were 93(62%) and female patients were 57(38%). Thrombocytopenia was found in 30(32.26%) male patients and in 18(31.58%) female patients. Association of thrombocytopenia with gender was not statistically significant with p value 0.931.

Conclusion: Results of present study revealed that higher proportion of hepatitis C patients found with thrombocytopenia. Most of the patients belonged to 4th and 5th decade. Higher number of male patients were victim of hepatitis C infection as compared to female patients. Most of the patients were obese. Higher number of patients were normotensive and non-diabetics.

Keywords: Hepatitis C, thrombocytopenia, cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma