Aim: To evaluate the height and weight patterns of children with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) with and without treatment.
Methods: Thirty-four patients with immunoactive CHB randomly assigned to receive interferon-alpha2a (IFN) (5 mIU/m2, 6 months, group I) or IFN (same dose and duration) plus lamivudine (4 mg/kg/day, 24 months) (group II). Fifteen immunotolerant patients (group III) were followed without any treatment. Height (Ht-SDS), weight (Wt-SDS) and growth velocity (GV-SDS) standard deviation scores were monitored for a total of 36 months.
Results: Ht-SDS was significantly lower in group II than in group I one year after completion of IFN treatment (p < 0.05). Wt-SDS was significantly higher in group I than the other groups two years after completion of IFN treatment (p < 0.05). In groups I and II, the percentage of children showing abnormal GV-SDS decreased once treatment was completed (p < 0.05).
Conclusion: CHB does not have deleterious effects on height and weight. Although IFN treatment temporarily compromises weight gain and growth velocity, lamivudine does not have any additional adverse effect.