Association of early age at establishment of chronic hepatitis B infection with persistent viral replication, liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma: a systematic review.

ABSTRACT: Age at infection with hepatitis B virus (HBV) is a known risk factor for chronic HBV infection. However, in addition, there is some evidence that early age at infection further increases the risk of primary liver cancer beyond its association with increased risk of chronic infection. This systematic review of observational studies assesses the association between age at initiation of chronic HBV infection and liver cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma, and their predictors including indicators of ongoing viral replication and hepatic damage. The review includes birth order and maternal HBV serology as proxies for age at infection. Electronic searches in two English-language (Medline and Embase, until Jan 2012) and two Chinese-language (CNKI and SinoMed, until Sep 2012) databases without lan

SUBMITTER: Shimakawa Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3716646 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature