Albumin–Bilirubin Score Differentiates Liver Fibrosis Stage and Hepatocellular Carcinoma Incidence in Chronic Hepatitis B Virus Infection: A Retrospective Cohort Study

The albumin–bilirubin (ALBI) score was originally established to stratify prognosis in patients with cirrhosis. The diagnostic accuracy of ALBI score in liver fibrosis staging in patients with chronic hepatitis B remains to be investigated. The present retrospective study, therefore, aimed to evaluate the ability of this score to stage liver fibrosis in these patients. Briefly, consecutive patients with hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection who underwent liver biopsy examinations in Kagawa University Hospital were enrolled. Liver fibrosis stage was assessed using a modified Meta-Analysis of Histological Data in Viral Hepatitis score. Albumin–bilirubin scores were calculated according to the following equation: (log(10) total bilirubin [T-Bil] × 0.66) + (albumin [Alb] × −0.085). A total of 91 patients were enrolled in this study. Albumin–bilirubin score was able to differentiate stage 4 from stage 3 fibrosis (P < 0.05). When an ALBI score of −2.190 was adopted as the cutoff value for differentiating stage 4 from stages 1–3, the sensitivity, specificity, and positive likelihood ratio were 85.7%, 74.0%, and 3.300, respectively. Kaplan–Meier analysis showed that baseline ALBI scores < −2.190 correlated with better hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC)–free survival (P < 0.05). In conclusion, ALBI score can be used for liver fibrosis staging in Japanese chronic hepatitis B patients and can help distinguish cirrhotic from non-cirrhotic status. Furthermore, ALBI score was useful as a prognosis biomarker in our patients, with smaller ALBI scores predicting better HCC-free survival. Because calculating ALBI score is easy using serum T-Bil and Alb alone, ALBI score will help clinicians with decision-making in management of HBV-infected patients.