Hepatitis D virus infection in Isfahan, central Iran: Prevalence and risk factors among chronic HBV infection cases

Background: Hepatitis D virus (HDV) is dependent on hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. Acute infection with HDV can occur simultaneously with acute HBV infection or be superimposed onto a chronic HBV infection.
Objectives: This study aimed to identify cases of HDV and determine its prevalence in patients with chronic HBV infection for the first time study in Isfahan, central Iran.
Patients and Methods: In a cross-sectional study in 2009, 346 who had been diagnosed for at least 6 months with chronic HBV were enrolled consecutively. Anti-HDV was measured by ELISA in the serum of these patients.
Results: The study included 245 males (70.8%) and 101 (29.2%) females with a mean age of 39 ± 12.4 years. Anti-HDV was present in 8 (3.5%) HBe antibody-positive patients (p = 0.36) and in 2 (2.3%) HBe antigen-positive cases (p = 0.68). No association was found between hepatitis D and probable risk factors.
Conclusions: This study demonstrates that the prevalence of HDV infection is higher in patients who are positive for HBeAb compared those who are HBeAg-positive. Therefore, most HDV antibody-positive cases in Isfahan are HBV/HDV superinfections but not coinfections.
Keywords: Hepatitis B infection; Hepatitis D infection; Prevalence

• Implication for health policy/practice/research/medical education:
  Chronic HDV aggregates chronic hepatitis B infection in the patients. This original paper about super and co-infection of HDV is recommended for medical practitioners and specialists in the field of infection diseases and hepatologists as well as health policy makers.
• Please cite this paper as:
  Ataei B, Yazdani MR, Kalantari H, Yaran M, Nokhodian Z, Javadi AA, et al. Hepatitis D virus infection in Isfahan, central Iran: Prevalence and risk factors among chronic HBV infection cases. Hepat Mon. 2011;11(4):269-272.

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