Characteristics of patients with chronic hepatitis B in France: Predominant fr

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Journal of Hepatology
Volume 45, Issue 3 , September 2006, Pages 355-360

Characteristics of patients with chronic hepatitis B in France: Predominant
frequency of HBe antigen negative cases

Jean-Pierre Zarski1, 2, , , Patrick Marcellin3, Vincent Leroy1, 2, Christian
Trepo4, Didier Samuel5, Nathalie Ganne-Carrie6, Karl Barange7, Valérie
Canva8, Michel Doffoel9, Paul Cales10 and the Fédération nationale des Pôles
de référence et des Réseaux Hépatites

1Département d’Hépato-gastroentérologie, CHU de Grenoble – BP 217 – 38043
Grenoble CEDEX 9, France
2INSERM U 548, Grenoble, France
3Service d’Hépatologie et INSERM CRB 3, Hôpital Beaujon, France
4Unité d’Hépatologie, Hôtel Dieu, Lyon, France
5Département de transplantation, Hôpital Paul Brousse, Villejuif, France
6Unité d’Hépatologie, Hôpital Jean Verdier, Bondy, France
7Service d’Hépatogastroentérologie, Hôpital Purpan, Toulouse, France
8Service d’Hépatogastroentérologie, CHU de Lille, France
9Service d’Hepatogastroentérologie, Hôpital Civil, Strasbourg, France
10Service d’Hepatogastroentérologie, CHU d’Angers, France

Received 23 December 2005;  revised 23 February 2006;  accepted 6 March
2006.  Available online 18 April 2006.

Background/Aims
An increasing prevalence of HBe antigen (HBeAg) negative chronic hepatitis B
has been recently reported in many countries. The aim of this study was to
analyze the frequency and the characteristics of HBeAg-negative as compared
with HBeAg-positive chronic hepatitis B in France.

Methods
Eight hundred and sixty-five patients with histologically proven chronic
hepatitis B seen in 26 University centers were included. The proportion with
HBeAg-negative chronic hepatitis B was 72% and higher in patients born in
Africa, Middle East, Eastern, and Southern Europe than in those of French or
Asian origin. HBeAg-negative patients were significantly older (p < 0.001)
and had lower ALT levels and HBV DNA serum levels (p < 0.01) than
HBeAg-positive patients. An unknown source of infection was more prevalent
in HBeAg-negative patients (p < 0.05). Fibrosis score (p < 0.05) and
proportion of cirrhosis (p < 0.01) were significantly higher in
HBeAg-negative patients. Age older than 50 years, male gender and viral load
lower than 5 logs10 copies/mL were independently associated with cirrhosis.

Results
HBeAg-negative chronic hepatitis B is predominant in France. This
observation is important for an optimized clinical management and future
therapeutic trials in chronic hepatitis B.

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