Real-World Epidemiology, Treatment Patterns, and Disease Burden of Chronic Hepatitis B and HDV Co-Infection in South Korea

• Published in: Infectious Diseases and Therapy Vol. 12; no. 10; pp. 2387 - 2403
• Main Authors: Cho, Yuri, Park, SeongBeom, Park, SeonYoung, Choi, WonJung, Kim, Book, Han, Helin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cheshire Springer Science and Business Media LLC 01.10.2023; Springer Healthcare; Springer; Springer Nature B.V; Adis, Springer Healthcare
• Subjects: Adefovir dipivoxil; Biological response modifiers; Chronic hepatitis B; Clinical burden; Clinical outcomes; Comorbidity; Epidemiology; HBV/HDV co-infections; Health care; Health care expenditures; Healthcare resource utilization; Hepatitis; Hepatitis B; Hepatitis C virus; Hepatitis delta virus; Hypertension; Infection; Infections; Infectious and parasitic diseases; Infectious Diseases; Interferon; Internal Medicine; Liver; Liver cancer; Liver cirrhosis; Liver transplantation; Medical care, Cost of; Medical research; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Medicine, Experimental; Observational studies; Original Research; Peptic ulcer; RC109-216; Telbivudine; Transplantation of organs, tissues, etc; Viral infections; South Korea; Healthcare resource utilization; Clinical burden; Chronic hepatitis B; HBV/HDV co-infections; Epidemiology
• ISSN: 2193-8229; 2193-6382
• DOI: 10.1007/s40121-023-00860-8

Introduction Long-term complications of chronic hepatitis B (CHB) viral infection, such as cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), and liver failure, cause a large disease burden. This study aimed to describe the epidemiology, clinical outcomes, and treatment patterns of CHB infection and co-infection with hepatitis D virus (HDV) in South Korea. Methods The retrospective, observational study used existing data from the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA) database. Confirmed cases of (CHB) and HBV/HDV co-infection were identified between 2013 and 2019. Hepatitis C virus co-infections and acute HBV infections were excluded. Incident cases diagnosed between 2015 and 2018 with no prior disease history up to 2 years were included. Patient characteristics, clinical outcomes, economic burden, and healthcare-resource utilization were described. Results The estimated 7-year prevalence of CHB and HBV/HDV co-infection were 0.9% and 0.0024%, respectively. The prevalence was higher among 45–54 years old (CHB: 1.6%, HBV/HDV: 0.0049%) and males (1.1%, 0.0035%). The 5-year cumulative incidences of compensated cirrhosis, decompensated cirrhosis, HCC, and liver transplantation were 13.3%, 7.1%, 8.4%, and 0.7%, respectively. Hyperlipidemia (40.6%), hypertension (23.5%), and peptic ulcer (23.7%) were the more prevalent comorbidities. Among CHB patients, 48.1% received ≥ 1 prescribed anti-HBV drug including interferon or nucleos(t)ide analogues and 64.4% had ≥ 1 hospitalization compared to 80.4% and 79.4% HBV/HDV patients. Estimated total healthcare costs for CHB and HBV/HDV were US$786 million and $62 million, respectively. Conclusions These findings provide insights to the epidemiology, clinical burden, treatment patterns, and healthcare costs of CHB and HBV/HDV co-infection in South Korea.