Racial disparity in chronic hepatitis B infection in a predominately African American urban clinic population

Eugene Verkhovsky; Paul Naylor; Sindhuri Benjaram; Shanker Das Kundumadam; Murray Ehrinpreis; Milton Mutchnick; Eugene Verkhovsky; Paul Naylor; Sindhuri Benjaram; Shanker Das Kundumadam; Murray Ehrinpreis; Milton Mutchnick

doi:10.3934/medsci.2018.4.378

AIMS Medical Science

2018, Volume 5, Issue 4: 378-385. doi: 10.3934/medsci.2018.4.378

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Research article

Racial disparity in chronic hepatitis B infection in a predominately African American urban clinic population

Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Internal Medicine, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI, USA

Received: 30 August 2018 Accepted: 05 December 2018 Published: 14 December 2018

African Americans (AA) are 4 times as likely as Caucasians to have chronic Hepatitis B (CHB) and yet are under represented in the literature especially with respect to treatment response. The objective of this study was to compare demographics, treatment decisions and outcomes of AA to Non-AA patients seen in the same GI clinic. Of the 92 patients with CHB, 60% were AA. AA patients had similar ALT and viral load at early visits as compared to Non-AA but significantly less fibrosis as defined by AST Platelet Ratio Index. Treatment rates were lower but not statistically different for AA (38%) vs. Non-AA (46%) and the majority of patients (80%) were HBeAntigen (HBeAg) negative. The patients responded well to treatment, although HBeAg positive AA were less likely to have a decline in HBV DNA than HBeAg negative AA patients. The primary conclusions of this study are that AA as compared to Non-AA patients are less likely to have fibrosis and appear to have a dissimilar response to anti-viral therapy.
- hepatitis B,
- racial diversity,
- African Americans,
- fibrosis,
- viral burden
Citation: Eugene Verkhovsky, Paul Naylor, Sindhuri Benjaram, Shanker Das Kundumadam, Murray Ehrinpreis, Milton Mutchnick. Racial disparity in chronic hepatitis B infection in a predominately African American urban clinic population[J]. AIMS Medical Science, 2018, 5(4): 378-385. doi: 10.3934/medsci.2018.4.378

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Abstract

African Americans (AA) are 4 times as likely as Caucasians to have chronic Hepatitis B (CHB) and yet are under represented in the literature especially with respect to treatment response. The objective of this study was to compare demographics, treatment decisions and outcomes of AA to Non-AA patients seen in the same GI clinic. Of the 92 patients with CHB, 60% were AA. AA patients had similar ALT and viral load at early visits as compared to Non-AA but significantly less fibrosis as defined by AST Platelet Ratio Index. Treatment rates were lower but not statistically different for AA (38%) vs. Non-AA (46%) and the majority of patients (80%) were HBeAntigen (HBeAg) negative. The patients responded well to treatment, although HBeAg positive AA were less likely to have a decline in HBV DNA than HBeAg negative AA patients. The primary conclusions of this study are that AA as compared to Non-AA patients are less likely to have fibrosis and appear to have a dissimilar response to anti-viral therapy.

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