Liver fibrosis and hepatitis B coinfection among ART Na\ve HIV-infected patients at a tertiary level hospital in Northwestern Tanzania: a cross-sectional study
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Date
2017
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Hindawi
Abstract
Liver fibrosis which is a common complication of chronic hepatitis B infection is rarely diagnosed in low-resource countries due to limited capacity to perform biopsy studies. Data on the utilization of noninvasive techniques which are feasible for diagnosis of liver fibrosis in these settings among HIV-infected patients is scarce. The objective of this study was to establish the magnitude of liver fibrosis by using both aspartate-aminotransferase-to-platelets ratio and fibrosis-4 scores with associated hepatitis B coinfection among antiretroviral therapy naïve HIV-infected patients. We reviewed data of 743 adult patients attending HIV clinic with available hepatitis B surface antigen test results. Baseline clinical information was recorded and aspartate-aminotransferase-to-platelet ratio and fibrosis-4 scores were calculated. The cut-off values of 1.5 and 3.25 were used for diagnosis of significant fibrosis by aspartate-aminotransferase-to-platelets ratio and fibrosis-4 scores, respectively. Results. The prevalence of liver fibrosis was 3.5% when aspartate-aminotransferase-to-platelet score was used and 4.6% with fibrosis-4 score and they were both significantly higher among patients with hepatitis B coinfection. Younger patients with HIV advanced disease and elevated liver transaminases had increased risk of having hepatitis B coinfection. A remarkable number of HIV-infected patients present with liver fibrosis, predominantly those with hepatitis B infection.
Description
Full text article. Also available at https://doi.org/10.1155/2017/5629130
Keywords
Fibrosis, Liver fibrosis, Hepatitis, Hepatitis B coinfection, ART naïve HIV-infected patients, HIV-infected patients, Antiretroviral therapy, Hepatitis B virus, HBV, Liver fibrosis, Chronic hepatitis, Liver biopsy
Citation
Kilonzo, S. B., Gunda, D. W., Kashasha, F., & Mpondo, B. C. (2017). Liver fibrosis and Hepatitis B coinfection among ART Naive HIV-infected patients at a tertiary level hospital in Northwestern Tanzania: a cross-sectional study. Journal of Tropical Medicine, 2017.