Korean J Hepatol.  2006 Jun;12(2):163-172.

Natural History of HBeAg Negative Chronic Hepatitis B Virus Infection: A Cohort Study

• Moon CM
• Kim DY
• Song KJ
• Kim JK
• Lee HW
• Lee JM
• Yoon KT
• Paik YH
• Kim DK
• Han KH
• Chon CY
• Moon YM
• Ahn SH

Abstract

BACKGROUND/AIMS: The long-term virologic and biochemical changes in patients with HBeAg negative HBV infection, especially in Asia, remain unclear. To address this issue, we conducted a 3 year- retrospective, cohort study. METHODS: A total of 157 patients with HBeAg negative HBV infection who were monitored without treatment were reviewed between January 1999 and March 2004. Those patients were followed up every 3 months with liver function tests and serologic tests. All patients were stratified into 3 groups; inactive carrier (IC), viremic carrier (VC) and chronic hepatitis (CH). Serum HBV DNA was measured by a hybridization assay (sensitivity: 1.4 x 10(5) genomes/mL, Digene Diagnostics, Silver Spring, USA). RESULTS: The median age of enrolled patients was 42.7 years (M:F=2.3:1). By single time-point observations, the 3 year-cohort prevalence of HBeAg negative CH varied from 12.7 to 35.8% (median 20.7%) HBeAg negative CH was accumulated over time (P=0.002) and transition rates among three groups after 3 years of follow-up are as follows: IC to CH, 6.0%; IC to VC, 4.1%; VC to CH, 23.2%. VC seems to be a disease state in the middle of transition from IC to CH. CONCLUSIONS: We demonstrated the dynamic changing patterns of HBeAg negative CH with time, of which the change from IC or VC to CH was dominant.

Keyword

Hepatitis B virus; Hepatitis B, chronic; Hepatitis B e antigens; Carrier state; Prognosis

MeSH Terms

Middle Aged
Male
Humans
Hepatitis B, Chronic/*immunology/virology
Hepatitis B e Antigens/*blood
Female
Carrier State/immunology
Adult