frequency and risk factors of hepatitis d virus in hepatitis b patients

introduction and aims: although a few studies have done in our country in the field of hepatitis d, its risk factors are not clearly known. this study was conducted with the aim of assessing the relative frequency and risk factors of hdv and the correlation between hdv and severity of liver damage. materials and methods: this was a cross sectional study. 280 hbsag positive subjects (including 102 inactive carriers, 155 patients with chronic active hepatitis and 23 cirrhotic subjects were assessed for anti hdv ab, risk factors (blood transfusion, surgery, tattoo, war injury, dentistry interventions and endoscopy) and severity of liver damage (alt, ast, platelet). results: from all subjects, 16 patients (5.7%) were affected with hdv. 2 inactive carriers (2%), 12 patients with chronic active hepatitis (7.7%) and 2 cirrhotics (8.7%) were anti hdv ab positive. history of tattoo (p=0.054), war injury (p=0.025), dentistry interventions (p=0.064) and endoscopy (p=0.028) were more reported in anti hdv ab positives than negatives. anti hdv ab positive was correlated with higher pathological score (p=0.017) and grade (p=0.012) and lower platelet count (p=0.083). conclusions: our results indicate that the severity of liver disease is independent of serum levels of hepatitis d virus. the correlation between serum titers of hepatitis b virus and severity of liver disease clearly require further investigation.