Chronic hepatitis B virus infection status is more prevalent in patients with type 2 diabetes

AIMS/INTRODUCTION: It has not been reported whether chronic hepatitis B virus infection (CHB) is associated with a specific type of diabetes. We sought to investigate the prevalence of CHB status in different diabetes subtypes among a Chinese population. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a cross‐sectional study. A total of 381 patients with adult‐onset autoimmune diabetes, 1,365 patients with type 2 diabetes and 1,365 non‐diabetic controls were recruited from June 2005 to February 2014. The exclusion criteria included: (i) hepatitis C virus antibody positive; (ii) hepatic cirrhosis; and (iii) malignant neoplasm and severe renal dysfunction (serum creatinine >450 μmol/L). Patients were grouped as hepatitis B virus‐negative and CHB status. RESULTS: Patients with type 2 diabetes had a higher prevalence of CHB than the controls in the overall population (13.5 vs 10.0%, P = 0.004) and among patients with normal hepatic function (13.3 vs 8.8%, P = 0.002). There was no difference in the prevalence of CHB status between patients with adult‐onset autoimmune diabetes and the controls. Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that the odds ratio of CHB increased by ~1.5‐fold in patients with type 2 diabetes than in the control group after adjustment for age, sex and body mass index, regardless of hepatic function status. CONCLUSIONS: CHB status was more prevalent in patients with type 2 diabetes than in individuals with adult‐onset autoimmune diabetes and the controls among the Chinese population. Further research is required to ascertain whether CHB status increases the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, or whether type 2 diabetes, but not adult‐onset autoimmune diabetes, increases the risk of CHB.