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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