Rate of chronicity and time of disappearance of HBsAg following acute hepatitis B.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Chronic hepatitis B is associated with significantly increased risk of developing cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma. It's, therefore, important to understand the incidence and risk factors associated with chronicity following acute hepatitis B. METHODOLOGY: Among 863 acute hepatitis patients admitted consecutively to the hospital, 320 with serum immunoglobulin M antibody to hepatitis B core antigen were classified as acute hepatitis B. Of these patients, serum samples were collected 3 and 6 months after clinical onset. RESULTS: Complete follow-up was achieved in 240 patients and 11 (4.6%) became chronic carriers. Only alcohol addiction other than epidemiological, clinical or biochemical parameters was found to be significantly associated with chronic evaluation. In serum samples collected from 205 of 240 patients 3 months after the onset of infection, hepatitis B surface antigen clearance was observed in 181 (88.3%). Number of patients increased to 194 (94.6%) at the end of 6 month and both of these rates were found to be highly significant. CONCLUSIONS: There is still no certain way of predicting the outcome of acute hepatitis B whether a newly infected patient will resolve the illness or not. Alcohol addiction seems to have an impact on the chronicity but additional research is needed.