Chronic hepatitis B virus infection status is more prevalent in patients with type 2 diabetes

Aims/Introduction: It has not been reported whether chronic hepatitis B virus infection (CHB) is associated with a specific type of diabetes. We sought to investigate the prevalence of CHB status in different diabetes subtypes among a Chinese population. Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study. A total of 381 patients with adult-onset autoimmune diabetes, 1,365 patients with type 2 diabetes and 1,365 non-diabetic controls were recruited from June 2005 to February 2014. The exclusion criteria included: (i) hepatitis C virus antibody positive; (ii) hepatic cirrhosis; and (iii) malignant neoplasm and severe renal dysfunction (serum creatinine > 450 mu mol/L). Patients were grouped as hepatitis B virus-negative and CHB status. Results: Patients with type 2 diabetes had a higher prevalence of CHB than the controls in the overall population (13.5 vs 10.0%, P = 0.004) and among patients with normal hepatic function (13.3 vs 8.8%, P = 0.002). There was no difference in the prevalence of CHB status between patients with adult-onset autoimmune diabetes and the controls. Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that the odds ratio of CHB increased by similar to 1.5-fold in patients with type 2 diabetes than in the control group after adjustment for age, sex and body mass index, regardless of hepatic function status. Conclusions: CHB status was more prevalent in patients with type 2 diabetes than in individuals with adult-onset autoimmune diabetes and the controls among the Chinese population. Further research is required to ascertain whether CHB status increases the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, or whether type 2 diabetes, but not adult-onset autoimmune diabetes, increases the risk of CHB.