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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · J Lab Physicians 2018; 10(03): 304-308
DOI: 10.4103/JLP.JLP_12_18
Original Article

Evaluation of impact of occult hepatitis B infection in chronic HCV-infected patients: A retrospective cohort study

Mohit Bhatia
Department of Clinical Virology, Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences, New Delhi, India
,
Ekta Gupta
Department of Clinical Virology, Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences, New Delhi, India
,
Manish C Choudhary
Department of Molecular and Cellular Medicine, Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences, New Delhi, India
,
Ankur Jindal
Department of Hepatology, Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences, New Delhi, India
,
Shiv Kumar Sarin
Department of Hepatology, Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences, New Delhi, India
› Author Affiliations
Financial support and sponsorship Nil
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ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION: Occult hepatitis B infection (OBI) may contribute to liver damage and variable therapeutic response in patients with chronic hepatitis C (CHC) infection.

AIMS: To study the prevalence of OBI and to evaluate its impact and/or that of anti-HBc total seropositivity on clinical outcomes and response to directly acting antiviral (DAA) therapy in CHC-infected patients.

SETTINGS AND DESIGN: A retrospective cohort study was conducted in a tertiary care liver hospital from January to May 2017.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Eighty HBsAg-negative CHC patients who were initiated on DAA therapy were retrospectively included. Archived pretreatment baseline plasma samples were retrieved and tested for quantitative HBV DNA, anti-HBs, and anti-HBc total antibodies. HCV RNA, genotype, clinical, biochemical and histopathological parameters & treatment response data were obtained from the hospital information system.

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: Comparison of continuous variables was done by Mann–Whitney and Kruskal–Wallis tests and categorical variables by Fisher’s exact test or Pearson’s Chi-square test.

RESULTS: Prevalence of OBI was 1.25%. Anti-HBc total positivity was seen in 25% patients. Based on anti-HBc total status, patients were categorized into two groups namely Group 1 (anti-HBc positive) and Group 2 (anti-HBc negative). Group 1 patients were further categorized into three subgroups based on signal/cutoff (S/Co) of HBc total antibody semi-quantitative values. HBc total antibody levels did not influence the severity of CHC disease. Comparative evaluation of parameters such as median log10 baseline RNA (P = 0.929 and 0.464), median alanine aminotransferase (ALT 0) (P = 0.519 and 0.449), ALT at 12 weeks (P = 0.875 and 0.594), sustained virological response (SVR) at 12 weeks (P = 0.405 and 0.263) and SVR at 24 weeks (P = 0.265 and 0.625) between Groups 1 and 2 and among three categories within Group 1, respectively, were not found to be statistically significant.

Conclusions: Very low prevalence of OBI was seen in CHC patients. HBc total antibody levels did not influence clinical outcome and response to DAA therapy in this cohort.

Keywords

Chronic hepatitis C - directly acting antivirals - occult hepatitis B infection


Publication History

Received: 24 January 2018

Accepted: 02 May 2018

Article published online:
19 February 2020

© 2018.

Thieme Medical and Scientific Publishers Private Ltd.
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