The study, published in the World Journal of Gastroenterology, find these conditions include fatigue, kidney impairment, type 2 diabetes, joint pain, numbness or tingling of the skin and purpura -- discoloration caused by bleeding under the skin.

Effective treatment of hepatitis C virus may prevent cryoglobulinemia -- the presence of abnormal proteins in blood serum, the researchers say.

The study involving 136 hepatitis C patients at Alexandrovska Hospital in Sofia, Bulgaria, find the risks of developing B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma higher in cryoglobulin-positive patients --17.6 percent -- and lower -- 3.5 percent -- in cryoglobulin-negative patients.

The study finds positive links between the presence of extra-hepatic manifestations and age, female gender, duration of the infection, infection by transfusion of blood and blood products and extensive liver fibrosis. Therefore, elderly women with chronic hepatitis C and advanced liver fibrosis, who were infected by transfusion during childbirth, are at the highest risk of developing extra-hepatic manifestations of hepatitis C infection.