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. 2025 Mar 6;12(3):ofaf125.
doi: 10.1093/ofid/ofaf125. eCollection 2025 Mar.

Hepatitis B Core-Related Antigen Point-of-Care Tests as a Risk Stratification Tool for Treatment Eligibility: Experience From Kenya

Louise O Downs  1   2 , Dorcas Okanda  2 , Oscar Chirro  2 , Mwanakombo Zaharani  2 , Benson Safari  2 , Nadia Aliyan  3 , Monique I Andersson  4   5 , Yasuhito Tanaka  6   7 , Anthony O Etyang  1   2 , Yusuke Shimakawa  7   8 , George Githinji  2   9 , Philippa C Matthews  10   11   12
Affiliations

Hepatitis B Core-Related Antigen Point-of-Care Tests as a Risk Stratification Tool for Treatment Eligibility: Experience From Kenya

Louise O Downs et al. Open Forum Infect Dis. .

Abstract

We undertook a point-of-care test for hepatitis B core-related antigen in adults with hepatitis B virus in Kilifi, Kenya. A positive test identified all individuals with a hepatitis B viral load >200 000 IU/mL and who were hepatitis B e antigen positive. It also correlated with a higher alanine aminotransferase (ALT) level (P = .03), raised aspartate transaminase-to-platelet ratio index (APRI) (P < .001), and higher elastography scores (P = .03).

Keywords: HBV; hepatitis B core-related antigen; liver disease; point-of-care diagnostics; treatment.

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Conflict of interest statement

Potential conflicts of interest. Y.S. has received a research grant and honoraria for lectures from Gilead Sciences and research materials from Abbott Laboratories and Fujirebio Inc. P.C.M. has previously received funding support for her group from GSK (outside the scope of this paper). Y.T. has received scholarship donations from AbbVie GK and OTSUKA Pharmaceutical Co. and research funding from AbbVie GK, Fujirebio Inc, Sysmex Corp, GSK, Gilead Sciences, and Janssen Pharmaceuticals. Y.T. has also received lecture fees from AbbVie GK, Gilead Sciences, Chugai Pharmaceuticals, ASKA Pharmaceutical Holdings, OTSUKA Pharmaceutical Co., Takeda Pharmaceutical Co, GSK, AstraZeneca, Eisai, and HU Frontier.

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