Is there an influence of hepatic steatosis on fibrosis and necroinflammation in young patients with chronic viral hepatitis B?

OBJECTIVES

Our aim was to investigate the association of liver fibrosis and necroinflammation with HS in untreated young patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB).

MATERIALS AND

METHODS

A retrospective study was conducted in a military hospital in Turkey. A total of 254 subjects with CHB were included in this study. These subjects were divided into two groups: group 1 consisted of patients with hepatic steatosis (HS) according to ultrasonography (USG) and group 2 consisted of non-HS subjects. Sociodemographic, biochemical, histopathological, virological and USG results were recorded for both groups retrospectively. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS 22.0.

RESULTS

The prevalence of HS was found to be 11.4%. A significant statistical difference was found between group 1 and group 2 regarding the fibrosis degree (p = 0.045). No statistically significant difference was noted between two groups for age, levels of ALT, AST, HBeAg, HBV-DNA levels, HAI scores, diagnosis age and duration of CHB. No difference was noted between the grade of HS and variables. A positive correlation was found between fibrosis groups and the grade of HS (p = 0.012, r = 0.158) and between HAI groups and the grade of HS (p = 0.029, r = 0.137).

CONCLUSION

The prevalence of steatosis was not higher in patients with CHB. HS is associated with advanced hepatic fibrosis, but not viral liver disease.