Ischemic Heart Disease in Chronic Hepatitis B: A Danish Nationwide Cohort Study

Frederik Faergemann Lau; Signe Bollerup; Frederik Engsig; Henrik Krarup; Lone Hagens Mygind; Jesper Bach Hansen; Lone Galmstrup Madsen; Peter Thielsen; Ulla Balslev; Lars Nørregaard Nielsen; Toke S Barfod; Mette Rye Clausen; Lise Hobolth; Alex Lund Laursen; Britta Tarp; Birgit T Roege; Jan Gerstoft; Peer Brehm Christensen; Nina Weis

doi:10.2147/CLEP.S361910

Ischemic Heart Disease in Chronic Hepatitis B: A Danish Nationwide Cohort Study

Clin Epidemiol. 2022 Jul 18:14:879-888. doi: 10.2147/CLEP.S361910. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Frederik Faergemann Lau¹, Signe Bollerup¹, Frederik Engsig¹, Henrik Krarup², Lone Hagens Mygind³, Jesper Bach Hansen³, Lone Galmstrup Madsen^{4

5}, Peter Thielsen⁶, Ulla Balslev⁷, Lars Nørregaard Nielsen⁸, Toke S Barfod⁹, Mette Rye Clausen¹⁰, Lise Hobolth¹¹, Alex Lund Laursen¹², Britta Tarp¹³, Birgit T Roege¹⁴, Jan Gerstoft¹⁵, Peer Brehm Christensen^{16

17}, Nina Weis^{1

5}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Infectious Diseases, Copenhagen University Hospital-Hvidovre, Hvidovre, Denmark.
² Department of Molecular Diagnostics, Aalborg University Hospital, Aalborg, Denmark.
³ Department of Medical Gastroenterology, Aalborg University Hospital, Aalborg, Denmark.
⁴ Department of Medical Gastroenterology, Zealand University Hospital, Koege, Denmark.
⁵ Department of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
⁶ Department of Gastroenterology, Copenhagen University Hospital-Herlev, Herlev, Denmark.
⁷ Department of Infectious Diseases, Copenhagen University Hospital-Herlev, Herlev, Denmark.
⁸ Department of Lung- and Infectious Diseases, North Zealand Hospital-Hilleroed, Hilleroed, Denmark.
⁹ Department of Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases, Zealand University Hospital, Roskilde, Denmark.
¹⁰ Department of Medical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Copenhagen University Hospital-Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark.
¹¹ Department of Gastroenterology, Copenhagen University Hospital-Hvidovre, Hvidovre, Denmark.
¹² Department of Infectious Diseases, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark.
¹³ Diagnostic Center, Silkeborg Regional Hospital, Silkeborg, Denmark.
¹⁴ Department of Internal Medicine, Kolding Hospital, Kolding, Denmark.
¹⁵ Department of Infectious Diseases, Copenhagen University Hospital-Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark.
¹⁶ Department of Infectious Diseases, Odense University Hospital, Odense, Denmark.
¹⁷ Clinical Institute, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark.

Abstract

Objective: Data on the risk of ischemic heart disease (IHD) in patients with chronic hepatitis B virus (CHB) are conflicting. Our objective was to address the rate of IHD in patients with CHB compared with individuals without CHB (control-persons) from the general population.

Study design and setting: We conducted a cohort study of prospectively obtained data from Danish nationwide registries. We produced cumulative incidence curves and calculated the unadjusted incidence rate ratio (IRR) of IHD in persons with and without CHB. The adjusted association between having CHB and developing IHD was examined using a cause-specific Cox regression model.

Results: In total, 6472 persons with CHB and 62,251 age- and sex-matched individuals from the general population were followed for 48,840 and 567,456 person-years, respectively, during which 103 (1,59%) with CHB and 1058 (1,70%) control-persons developed IHD. The crude IRR was 1.13 (95% CI: 0.91-1.39). CHB did not have a statistically significant effect on the rate of IHD after adjusting for several confounding factors (adjusted hazard ratio: 0.96, 95% CI: 0.76-1.21).

Conclusion: In this nationwide cohort study, we did not find any difference between rate of IHD in persons with CHB in comparison with the general population.

Keywords: atherosclerosis; cardiovascular disease; coronary heart disease; general population; hepatitis B virus; ischemic heart disease; viral infection.

Grants and funding

Signe Bollerup has received funding from Manufacturer Vilhelm Pedersen and Wife’s Foundation; Free research funds of University Hospital of Copenhagen, Amager and Hvidovre; Grant in memory of Carpenter Jørgen Holm and wife Elisa B. Hansen (1906–1948); Aase and Ejnar Danielsens Foundation and Scandinavian Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy Foundation (SLS-935536).