Purpose: To analyze the spectrum of diseases in patients with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and their association with patient clinicopathologic characteristics and the effect of antiviral therapy on the spectrum of diseases in the study cohort.
Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the clinicopathologic and virologic records of patients with chronic HBV infection hospitalized at our institution during 2011. Demographic data, hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) status and HBV DNA (log10 IU/ml) were obtained.
Results: A total of 1,619 patients were included; 272 (17.2 %) patients received antiviral therapy for a mean duration of 24.5 ± 18.3 months, and 71.0 % (198/279) patients were compliant with their antiviral therapy. HBeAg-positive patients had a markedly higher rate of moderate and severe CHB than HBeAg-negative patients (p < 0.001) but a significantly lower rate of liver cirrhosis (p < 0.001). The rate of severe and fulminant CHB was significantly lower in patients receiving antiviral therapy than in those not receiving antiviral therapy.
Conclusions: Patients receiving antiviral therapy exhibit a different spectrum of diseases from patients not receiving such therapy.
Keywords: Antiviral therapy; Disease spectrum; Hepatitis B virus; Interferon; Nucleotide analogs.