Clinical Study

Prevalence of Occult Hepatitis B Virus Infection in a Cohort of HIV-Positive Patients Resident in Sicily, Italy

Table 2

Clinical, virological, and biochemical characteristics of 405 HBsAg-negative/HIV-infected individuals, according to the detection of occult HBV infection (a) and genotypic/serological characterization of 24 OBI positive subjects (b).
(a)

Characteristic ( (%), by column)TotalHBV DNA negativeHBV DNA positiveCI95% or value

Study population ( (%), by row)405381 (94.1)24 (5.9)3.8–8.7%
Serological markers of infection
 No HBV markers183 (45.2)174 (95.1)9 (4.9)2.3–9.1%
 Anti-HBs + anti-HBc88 (21.7)82 (93.2)6 (6.8)2.5–14.2%
 Anti-HBc alone71 (17.5)63 (88.7)8 (11.3)*,∆5.0–21.0%
 Anti-HBs alone63 (15.6)62 (98.4)1 (1.6)0.1–8.5%
 Anti-HCV98 (24.2)95 (96.9)3 (3.1)0.6–8.7%
HIV viral load
 HIV RNA [log10 copies/mL, median (IQR))1.8 (3.0)1.8 (3.0)2.8 (3.1)0.834
 HIV RNA (≤50 copies/mL)196 (47.9)186 (94.9)10 (5.1)0.775
HAART regimen
 Naïve145 (35.8)138 (95.2)7 (4.8)
 HAART including lamivudine160 (39.5)149 (93.1)11 (6.9)
 HAART without lamivudine53 (13.1)51 (96.2)2 (3.8)
 HAART not specified47 (11.6)43 (91.5)4 (8.5)
 Months of treatment (median (IQR))55.2 (53.9)54.9 (55.1)58.1 (31.2)0.954
Immunological parameters ( )
cell counts (median (IQR))390 (386)388 (382)419 (368)0.758
 ≤200 cells/mL79 (22.7)75 (94.9)4 (5.1)
 201–499 cells/mL143 (41.1)136 (95.1)7 (4.9)
 ≥500 cells/mL126 (36.2)117 (92.9)9 (7.1)

(b)

Case no.SexAge (years)Geographic originYear of samplingRisk factorAnti-HBsAnti-HBcAnti-HCVGenotype

1F22.3Eastern Europe2007HeteroD
2F26.8Sub-Saharan Africa2008Hetero+D
3F36.2Sub-Saharan Africa2009HeteroD
4M41.0Sub-Saharan Africa2009Hetero+E
5M40.0Italy2008Hetero+D
6M51.8Italy2008Hetero++D
7F42.6Italy2008HeteroD
8F30.3Italy2008HeteroD
9M43.9Italy2008Hetero+D
10M34.4Italy2008IVDU++D
11F38.0Italy2008Hetero+D
12M47.8Italy2008OmoD
13M53.1Italy2009IVDU++D
14M60.0Italy2009Hetero+D
15M44.7Italy2009Hetero++D
16F39.8Italy2009Hetero+D
17F38.9Italy2009Hetero+D
18F47.6Italy2009HeteroD
19M40.3Italy2009OmoD
20M43.2Italy2009IVDU++D
21F39.4Italy2009Hetero++D
22M35.2Italy2009Omo++D
23M46.9Italy2009Hetero++D
24M29.7Italy2009OmoD

Frequency and pattern of HBV serological markers are not mutually exclusive.
*OR = 3.7 (1.4–9.8), Mantel-Haenszel OR adjusted for anti-HCV positivity.
OR = 4.0 (1.5–10.7), Mantel-Haenszel OR adjusted for anti-HCV positivity. Analysis restricted to 145 HAART-naïve patients.
CI95%; 95% confidence interval; OR: odds ratio; IQR: interquartile range; Hetero: heterosexual; Omo: homosexual; IVDU: intravenous drug use.