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Patients with chronic hepatitis B virus infection died an average of 14 years younger and had higher incidences of death from all causes compared with the general U.S. population, according to study results recently published in Clinical Infectious Diseases.
“In the United States, about 1,800 death certificates annually list hepatitis B virus (HBV) as an underlying or contributing cause of death,” researchers wrote. “However, accurately quantifying mortality related to hepatitis is difficult because of the prolonged period between infection and death and because death is not always linked to underlying infection. … Underestimating the true prognosis of [chronic hepatitis B (CHB)] infection may have real consequences for patients.”
The researchers followed 4,389 patients with CHB for a mean of 5.38 years through Dec. 31, 2014, including 492 patients (11%) who died after a mean follow-up of 3 years. The decedents in the study were older and more likely to be white or black when compared with the survivor cohort. The survivors had twice the prevalence of being Asian (48.8% vs. 18.4%). Cirrhosis was much more prevalent in decedents (59.8%) compared with survivors (12%; P < .0001).