Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Comparative Study
. 2019 May-Jun;25(3):194-200.
doi: 10.4103/sjg.SJG_447_18.

Greater prevalence of comorbidities with increasing age: Cross-sectional analysis of chronic hepatitis B patients in Saudi Arabia

Faisal M Sanai  1 , Hamdan Alghamdi  2 , Khalid A Alswat  3 , Mohammed A Babatin  4 , Mona H Ismail  5 , Waleed K Alhamoudi  3 , Abduljaleel M Alalwan  2 , Yaser Dahlan  6 , Abdullah S Alghamdi  4 , Faleh Z Alfaleh  3 , Abdulrahman A Aljumah  2 , Ibrahim H Altraif  2 , Khalid Albeladi  6 , Faisal Batwa  6 , Waleed Alshumrani  6 , Drifa Belhadi  7 , Victor Genestier  7 , Ayman A Abdo  3
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Greater prevalence of comorbidities with increasing age: Cross-sectional analysis of chronic hepatitis B patients in Saudi Arabia

Faisal M Sanai et al. Saudi J Gastroenterol. 2019 May-Jun.

Abstract

Background/aims: Middle Eastern countries, including Saudi Arabia to some extent, are endemic for chronic hepatitis B (CHB) infection which could be associated with high mortality and comorbidities risk. However, limited data characterizing this CHB population exists. Our aim was to characterize and compare CHB patients in 2015 with those in 2010 and 2012 in Saudi Arabia.

Patients and methods: We conducted and compared three cross-sectional analyses of adult patients with CHB defined as either positive hepatitis B surface antigen or documented CHB history in 2010, 2012, and 2015. Data were accessed from the multicenter Systematic Observatory Liver Disease Registry (SOLID).

Results: A total of 765 CHB patients were identified in 2010 (n = 274), 2012 (n = 256), and 2015 (n = 235). Median age was significantly higher in 2015 (47 years) compared to 2010 and 2012 (42 years;P < 0.05). The proportions of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (range 1-12%) and cirrhosis (range 5-23%) were significantly higher in 2015 compared to 2010 and 2012 (P < 0.05). Compared to 2010, patients in 2015 had significantly (P < 0.05) higher prevalence of coronary artery disease (10% vs. 4%) and hyperbilirubinemia (18% vs. 9%). Although not significant, there was a numerical increase in 2015 in chronic kidney disease (9% vs. 7% in 2010;P= 0.559) and hepatic steatosis (32% vs. 25% in 2010;P= 0.074). Significantly more patients in 2015 (P < 0.05) were treatment experienced (23% vs. 5% in 2010/2012) and switched treatment (17% vs. 1-2% in 2010/2012).

Conclusions: Between 2010 and 2015, the CHB population in Saudi Arabia had significantly aged and was more likely to develop liver disease sequelae and other comorbidities.

Keywords: Comorbidities; Saudi Arabia; hepatitis B virus; treatment patterns.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

None

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Prevalence of comorbidities among chronic hepatitis B patients. HCC: Hepatocellular carcinoma. Note: Transplants that occurred in study period were liver and kidney transplants. *P value ≤0.05 for 2010 or 2012 vs. 2015
Figure 2
Figure 2
Prevalence of chronic kidney disease and coronary artery disease among chronic hepatitis B patients. CKD: Chronic kidney disease; MDRD-GFR: Modification of diet in renal disease-glomerular filtration rate; CAD: Coronary artery disease
Figure 3
Figure 3
Chronic hepatitis B treatment patterns – proportion of treatment experienced or treatment switched patients. Note: Treatment switch was defined as patients receiving a current hepatitis B virus treatment different than the reported previous treatments. *P value ≤0.05 for 2010 or 2012 vs. 2015
Figure 4
Figure 4
Chronic hepatitis B treatment patterns – current or past hepatitis B virus (HBV) treatments. Note: Treatment received defined as either: A. Previous exposure to the treatment or B. Current exposure to the treatment which started before the clinical admission. The treatment categories are not exclusive i.e., one patient may have received several different HBV treatments
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

References

    1. Hollinger FB, Liang TJ. Hepatitis B virus. In: Knipe DM, Howley PM, Griffin DE, Lamb RA, Martin MA, Roizman B, editors. Fields Virology. x4. Lippincott-Raven Publishers; 2001. pp. 2971–3036.
    1. Liang TJ. Hepatitis B: The virus and disease. Hepatology. 2009;49:S13–21. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Liaw YF. Natural history of chronic hepatitis B virus infection and long-term outcome under treatment. Liver Int. 2009;29(Suppl 1):100–7. - PubMed
    1. Lozano R, Naghavi M, Foreman K, Lim S, Shibuya K, Aboyans V, et al. Global and regional mortality from 235 causes of death for 20 age groups in 1990 and 2010: A systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010. Lancet. 2012;380:2095–128. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Abdo AA, Abdou AM, Aljumah AA, Amir G, Bzeizi K, Dixon J, et al. A review of chronic hepatitis B epidemiology and management issues in selected countries in the Middle East. J Viral Hepat. 2012;19:9–22. - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms