Hepatitis B virus infection in Chinese patients with hepatitis C virus infection: prevalence, clinical characteristics, viral interactions and host genotypes: a nationwide cross-sectional study

Objectives: Little is known about hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in China. This study aimed to evaluate the prevalence, clinical characteristics, viral interactions and host genotypes of HBV/HCV dual infection compared with HCV monoinfection. Study design: A cross-sectional study. Setting: China. Participants and methods: 997 patients with HCV from 28 university-affiliated hospitals in China were enrolled in this research. Patients were divided into two subgroups. Results: The prevalence of HBV infection in patients with HCV was 4.11% (41/997). The age-specific prevalence of HBsAg was 0.70%, 3.97% and 5.85% in groups aged 18-30, 30-50 and >50 years old (p=0.057), respectively. Patients with HBV/HCV dual infection and patients with HCV monoinfection had similar HCV viral loads (5.80 +/- 0.89 vs 5.83 +/- 1.00 log10 IU/mL, p=0.904). The dominant HCV genotype was 1b in both groups (53.65% vs 56.90%, p=0.493). The protective C allele in IL-28B (rs12979860) was also the dominant allele type in both patient groups (85.36% vs 83.99%, p=0.814). Patients with HBV/HCV dual infection had a higher ratio of liver cirrhosis and hepatic decompensation than patients with HCV monoinfection (39.02% vs 17.69%, p=0.001; 31.70% vs 12.13%, p=0.001). Conclusions: The HBV burden was moderate in HCV-infected patients in China. Liver cirrhosis was more common in patients with HBV/HCV dual infection, suggesting the need for closer monitoring of dual-infected individuals.