Observational Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2023. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Oct 14, 2023; 29(38): 5395-5405
Published online Oct 14, 2023. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v29.i38.5395
Hepatitis D virus dual-infection among Chinese hepatitis B patient related to hepatitis B surface antigen, hepatitis B virus DNA and age
Jun Zi, Yu-Huan Li, Xiao-Mei Wang, Hong-Qin Xu, Wen-Hui Liu, Jia-Yue Cui, Jun-Qi Niu, Xiu-Mei Chi
Jun Zi, Yu-Huan Li, Xiu-Mei Chi, Gene Therapy Laboratory, Center for Pathogen Biology and Infectious Diseases, First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun 130061, Jilin Province, China
Xiao-Mei Wang, Hong-Qin Xu, Jun-Qi Niu, Department of Hepatology, Center for Pathogen Biology and Infectious Diseases, First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun 130061, Jilin Province, China
Wen-Hui Liu, Jia-Yue Cui, Department of Histology and Embryology, College of Basic Medical Sciences, Jilin University, Changchun 130061, Jilin Province, China
Author contributions: Chi XM and Li YH obtained fundings and designed the study; Chi XM, Zi J, Li YH, Wang XM, and Liu WH collected and diagnosed the specimens; Zi J and Xu HQ analyzed the data; Zi J and Li YH wrote this manuscript; Chi XM, Niu JQ, Cui JY, and Xu HQ revised the manuscript.
Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of Jilin Provence, No. YDZJ202201ZTYS016; and Jilin Provincial Health Commission, No. 2022JC053.
Institutional review board statement: This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the First Hospital of Jilin University (Approval No. AF-IRB-029-06).
Informed consent statement: All study participants, or their legal guardian, provided informed written consent prior to study enrollment.
Conflict-of-interest statement: No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Data sharing statement: Technical appendix, statistical code, and dataset available from the corresponding author at chixm@jlu.edu.cn.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement—checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement—checklist of items.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Xiu-Mei Chi, PhD, Assistant Professor, Gene Therapy Laboratory, Center for Pathogen Biology and Infectious Diseases, First Hospital of Jilin University, No. 519 of East Minzhu Street, Changchun 130061, Jilin Province, China. chixm@jlu.edu.cn
Received: June 6, 2023
Peer-review started: June 6, 2023
First decision: August 8, 2023
Revised: August 21, 2023
Accepted: September 26, 2023
Article in press: September 26, 2023
Published online: October 14, 2023
Processing time: 128 Days and 4.4 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND

The screening practices for hepatitis D virus (HDV) are diverse and non-standardized worldwide, and the exact prevalence of HDV is uncertain.

AIM

To estimate HDV prevalence and investigate viral marker quantity trends in patients with hepatitis D.

METHODS

We collected 5594 serum samples from patients with hepatitis B in Jilin Province, China (3293 males and 2301 females, age range of 2 to 89 years). We then conducted tests for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), hepatitis B Virus (HBV) DNA, anti-hepatitis D antigen (HDAg), and HDV RNA.

RESULTS

We found that the prevalence of anti-HDAg and HDV RNA among hepatitis B patient were 3.6% (3.2-4.2%) and 1.2% (0.9-1.5%), respectively, 87.69% of hepatitis D patients were 51-70 years old. HDV infection screening positive rate of patients with HBV DNA levels below 2000 IU/mL (2.0%) was higher than those above 2000 IU/mL (0.2%). Among anti-HDAg positive patients, the HDV RNA positive rate was positively correlated with the HBsAg level and anti-HDAg level. There was a weak correlation between HBsAg and anti-HDAg levels among hepatitis D patients.

CONCLUSION

Our study highlights the importance of considering multiple factors when assessing the severity of HDV infection, comprehensive evaluation of patients’ clinical and laboratory parameters is necessary for proper diagnosis and treatment.

Keywords: Hepatitis D virus; Hepatitis B virus; Epidemiology; Anti-hepatitis D antigen; Hepatitis D virus RNA

Core Tip: The screening practices for hepatitis D virus (HDV) are diverse and non-standardized worldwide, the exact prevalence of HDV is uncertain. To estimating HDV prevalence and investigate viral marker quantity trends in patients with hepatitis D, we collected serum samples from patients with hepatitis B, and tested hepatitis B surface antigen, hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA, anti-hepatitis D antigen (HDAg), and HDV RNA. We found that the prevalence of anti-HDAg and HDV RNA among hepatitis B patient in Jilin Province were 3.6% and 1.2%, respectively. HDV infection screening positive rate was higher in patients with lower HBV DNA levels, and with higher anti-HDAg levels.