Long-term progression of viral load and serum markers of fibrosis among treated and untreated patients with chronic hepatitis B.

ABSTRACT:

Background and aims

Antiviral therapy for patients with hepatitis B (HBV) infection is generally deferred for "immune inactive" patients, although longitudinal changes in viral load and liver fibrosis remain understudied in this population. Likewise, in treated patients, the temporal relationship between changes in viral load and liver fibrosis is not well characterized. Using data from the chronic hepatitis cohort study, the study investigated viral load and the Fibrosis-4 index (FIB4, a serum-based marker of liver fibrosis) trajectories in both untreated and treated HBV patients.

Materials and methods

We applied a bivariate, piecewise, linear spline, mixed-effects modeling approach to data from 766 HBV patients (342 untreated, 424 treated). Treatment selection bias was adj

SUBMITTER: Li J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5674987 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature