Prevalence and risk factors of hepatic steatosis and its impact on liver injury in Chinese patients with chronic hepatitis B infection

Date

2008

Authors

Fan, Jian-Gao
Shi, J.
Wu, Rui
Gao, Xiao-qian
Zhang, Li
Wang, Hao
Farrell, Geoffrey

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Blackwell Publishing Ltd

Abstract

Background and Aims: The clinical significance of hepatic steatosis in chronic hepatitis B infection (CHB) is unclear. The aims of this study were thus to investigate the prevalence and risk factors for hepatic steatosis in patients with CHB and its relationship with liver injury. Methods: Consecutive patients with biopsy-proven CHB at Hangzhou Sixth People's Hospital between January 2005 and June 2007 were included. Patients co-infected with other viruses or suffering from liver disease of any other cause were excluded. Liver steatosis, necroinflammation and fibrosis were assessed by both Brunt and Scheuer classifications. Results: A total of 1915 patients (1497 men) with a mean age of 31 ± 9.5 years were analyzed. Hepatic steatosis was present in 260 (14%) patients. The steatosis involved < 33% of hepatocytes in 90% of cases, and was more frequent among men than women (15% vs 8%, P < 0.001). Two-thirds (178 of 260) of patients with steatosis were hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg)-positive, but there was no correlation with either serum HBeAg status or hepatitis B virus DNA titer. Degree of inflammation and fibrosis were more mild among those with steatosis than those without. Multivariate analysis showed that steatosis was independently associated with body mass index, serum triglyceride, apolipoprotein B, uric acid, and fasting blood glucose. However, fibrosis was only independently associated with age and inflammatory grade, and the latter associated with viral load and fibrosis stage. Conclusions: Hepatic steatosis is common in CHB, it is associated with metabolic factors not viral ones, and does not appear to affect the severity of liver disease.

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Keywords

Keywords: apolipoprotein B; glucose; hepatitis B(e) antigen; triacylglycerol; virus DNA; adolescent; adult; aged; article; body mass; child; Chinese; chronic hepatitis; disease severity; fatty liver; female; glucose blood level; hepatitis B; human; human tissue; li Chronic hepatitis B; Liver fibrosis; Metabolic syndrome; Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease; Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis

Citation

Source

Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology

Type

Journal article

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2037-12-31