Prevalence of hepatitis delta virus (HDV) infection

liver411

in chronic hepatitis B patients in eastern Turkey: still a serious problem to consider.

J Viral Hepat. 2010 Jun 9. [Epub ahead of print]

Prevalence of hepatitis delta virus (HDV) infection in chronic hepatitis B
patients in eastern Turkey: still a serious problem to consider.

Bahcecioglu IH, Aygun C, Gozel N, Poyrazoglu OK, Bulut Y, Yalniz M.
Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Internal Medicine, Firat
University Medical School, Elazig.

Abstract
Summary. Hepatitis delta virus (HDV) is a serious cause of liver-related
morbidity and mortality. Coexistent infection with HDV tends to aggravate the
course of hepatitis B virus (HBV)-associated liver disease. The aim of this
study was to determine the prevalence of HDV infection among patients
chronically infected with HBV in the Elazig region, which is in eastern
Turkey. A group of 282 patients infected with chronic HBV were investigated
for the study. Anti-HDV seropositivity was evaluated in all patients. The
anti-HDV-positive patients were further tested for HDV RNA. Severity of liver
disease was assessed by liver biopsy. Regression analysis was used to
determine the relationship between independent variables and HDV positivity.
Of 282 chronic HBV patients, 192 were men (68.1%) and 90 were women (31.9%).
The mean age was 43.8 +/- 12.7 (between 18 and 73 years). Anti-HDV was
positive in 45.5% of the patients (128/282). Among the 128 anti-HDV-positive
patients, 116 were checked for HDV RNA and 56.9% were found positive (66/116).
Chronic HDV infection rate was therefore present in at least 23.4% of the
whole study group (66/282). There were 83 patients with cirrhosis (29.4%) in
the study group. Anti-HDV seroprevalence and HDV RNA presence were higher in
those with cirrhosis (61.4% and 42.2%, respectively). No significant
relationship was found between anti-HDV seropositivity and demographic factors
such as age, sex and operation or transfusion history except family history.
HDV-RNA-positive patients had significantly higher ALT and lower albumin
levels when compared to HDV-RNA-negative patients. HDV-RNA-positive patients
also had a significantly higher fibrosis stage. In conclusion, these findings
demonstrated that HDV infection is endemic and still a serious problem in the
Elazig region of eastern Turkey. HDV infection is significantly related to the
family exposure and increases the risk of severe liver fibrosis in this region.

PMID: 20546500 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]