The Clinical and Laboratory Characteristics of Patients with Chronic Hepatitis B Using Current or Past Antiviral Therapy in Korea: A Multi-Center, Nation-Wide, Cross-Sectional Epidemiologic Study

BACKGROUND/AIMS: The proper assessment of the current disease status of patients with chronic hepatitis B would be valuable for establishing optimal management strategies. METHODS: The clinical and laboratory characteristics of 2,954 patients with current or previous antiviral treatment (46.2±10.8 years, 69.7% male) enrolled from 46 referral hospitals and 129 local hospitals or clinics throughout Korea were analyzed. RESULTS: The disease status included chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma in 79.9%, 16.4%, and 3.7% of the patients, respectively. The major mode of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection was vertical transmission. The hepatitis C virus (HCV) co-infection rate was 1.5%; however, only 50.8% of patients were evaluated for HCV. The use of herbal or complementary medicines was reported in 33.5% of the patients. The majority of patients (97.6%) were treated with oral nucleoside/nucleotide analogues. Several characteristics were different between the patients treated at referral hospitals and local hospitals/clinics, including the disease state, choice of antiviral drug, and methods of HBV DNA measurement. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides a comprehensive picture of the clinical and laboratory characteristics of patients treated in Korea. Efforts to optimize management strategies are warranted.