Longitudinal study of hepatitis B in adults
We have set up a longitudinal study of patients with chronic hepatitis B among participating HEPSANET centres with initial funding from EASL registry grant and the John F. Martin Foundation.
We know that hepatitis B causes progressive liver disease and liver cancer but there is considerable debate about who should be treated. Many patients do not require treatment and can simply be observed.
The aim of this study is to understand how many patients have progression of liver disease over time in patients treated at centres in Africa, to study whether the current criteria used for hepatitis B treatment can be better optimised or adapted to the regional situation.
Why?
Liver disease progression - development of cirrhosis (a hardened damaged liver) and liver cancer- may be different in people with hepatitis B in African countries.
There are good reasons to suspect this.
The types of hepatitis B viruses (the genotype) and the way the hepatitis B virus behaves, the type of environmental exposures (such as the fungal toxin aflatoxin, or malaria) and the human genetic factors, may change the way hepatitis B progresses.
Choosing which patients receive treatment requires that we obtain longitudinal data (data collected over time). We will use this data to see if we can predict which patients progress to develop liver disease, and which patients stay healthy and well and don’t need treatment.
What will we do?
Fourteen clinical centres that care for hepatitis B patients in African countries are participating. By following up patients over time and recording their blood tests, clinical findings, the treatment they receive and whether they develop evidence of liver disease we will help to generate the evidence needed to provide effective hepatitis B treatment in Africa.
