People with evidence of HBV at elevated risk of liver-related events

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) low-level viraemia (LLV) may increase the risk of liver-related events, as suggested in a study.

Researchers used data from Clinformatics Data Mart Database and performed propensity score matching to establish cohorts of adults with chronic HBV-LLV and controls without evidence of chronic HBV.

A total of 4,236 participants each in the chronic HBV-LLV and control groups were included in the analysis. The demographics and baseline characteristics were similar. On average, the participants had a mean age of 55 years, 53 percent were female, and 52 percent were Asian.

Compared with the control group, the chronic HBV-LLV group had higher incidence rates of cirrhosis (1.01 vs 0.07 per 100 person-years), decompensation (0.59 vs 0.32 per 100 person-years), hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) (0.43 vs 0.04 per 100 person-years), and composite outcomes (1.86 vs 0.39 per 100 person-years).

The elevated risk of liver-related events disease risk in the chronic HBV-LLV group persisted in a sensitivity analysis limited to a subset of participants who received no nucleos(t)ide analogue treatment or had an HBV DNA of >2,000 IU/mL during follow-up.

The findings for cirrhosis and composite outcomes in patients with HBV-LLV were replicated in a second US dataset (HealthVerity Marketplace).

More studies are needed to validate the present data and determine the potential of antiviral therapy in reducing the risk of negative outcomes among individuals with HBV-LLV.