Table 1.
Baseline characteristics of the overall patient cohort and comparison of baseline characteristics between patients who were diagnosed with hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) at the hepatitis outpatient clinic (reflex testing cohort) or outside the hepatitis outpatient clinic of the Medical University of Vienna (standard testing cohort).
| Parameter | Overall cohort n = 560 | Standard testing cohort n = 407 | Reflex testing cohort n = 153 | P-value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age, years (IQR) | 47 (35–60) | 50 (36–62) | 40 (31–53) | < 0.001 |
| Sex, male (%) | 327 (58.4) | 241 (59.2) | 86 (56.2) | 0.585 |
| Ethnicity | 0.025 | |||
| Caucasian, n (%) | 497 (88.8) | 368 (90.4) | 129 (84.3) | 0.051 |
| Asian, n (%) | 45 (8.0) | 25 (6.1) | 20 (13.1) | 0.013 |
| African, n (%) | 18 (3.2) | 14 (3.4) | 4 (2.6) | 0.791 |
| Any risk factor, n (%) | 275 (49.1) | 202 (49.6) | 73 (47.7) | 0.757 |
| HDV endemic country, n (%) | 177 (31.6) | 128 (31.4) | 49 (32.0) | 0.923 |
|
ALT > ULN & HBV-DNA < 2000 IU/mL, n (%) * |
121 (21.6) | 89 (21.9) | 32 (20.9) | 0.910 |
| HIV/HCV coinfection, n (%) | 33 (5.9) | 24 (5.9) | 9 (5.9) | 1.000 |
| History of STD, n (%) | 19 (3.4) | 17 (4.2) | 2 (1.3) | 0.120 |
| MSM, n (%) | 16 (2.9) | 9 (2.2) | 7 (4.6) | 0.163 |
| PWID, n (%) | 12 (2.1) | 10 (2.5) | 2 (1.3) | 0.527 |
| HDV screening, n (%) | 415 (74.0) | 265 (65.1) | 150 (98.0) | < 0.001 |
| Anti-HDV positive among screened, n (%) | 28 (6.7%) | 14 (5.3) | 14 (9.3) | 0.169 |
| HBeAg negative, n (%) † | 485 (86.6) | 354 (87.0) | 131 (85.6) | 0.273 |
| Quant. HBsAg, log10 IU/mL (IQR) ‡ | 3.42 (2.58–4.2) | 3.45 (2.53–4.18) | 3.42 (2.72–4.16) | 0.770 |
| HBV-DNA * | < 0.001 | |||
| Undetectable, n (%) | 85 (18.7) | 74 (24.2) | 11 (7.4) | 0.004 |
| < Lower limit of linear quantification, n (%) | 67 (14.8) | 48 (15.7) | 19 (12.8) | 0.885 |
| > Lower limit of quantification, n (%) | 302 (66.5) | 184 (60.1) | 118 (79.7) | < 0.001 |
| FIB-4 §, points (IQR) | 1.15 (0.71–1.88) | 1.16 (0.71–1.88) | 1.09 (0.70–1.81) | 0.692 |
| PLT §, G/L (IQR) | 222 (171–268) | 225 (171–269) | 216 (171–258) | 0.131 |
| ALT §, U/L (IQR) | 29 (19–50) | 28 (18–46) | 32 (22–79) | 0.009 |
| ALT > ULN, n (%) | 169 (30.2) | 116 (28.5) | 53 (34.6) | 0.191 |
| AST §, G/L (IQR) | 28 (21–42) | 27 (20–39) | 30 (22–61) | 0.013 |
HDV hepatitis D virus, ALT alanine aminotransferase, HIV human immunodeficiency virus, HCV hepatitis C virus, STD sexually transmittable diseae, MSM men having sex with men, PWID person who injects drugs, HBeAg hepatitis B e antigen, FIB-4 Fibrosis-4 Index, PLT platetel count, AST aspartate aminotransferase.
Significant values are in bold.
*HBV-DNA missing in n = 106.
†HBeAg missing in n = 15.
‡Quant. HBsAg missing in n = 332.
§FIB-4, PLT, ALT and AST missing in n = 47, n = 31, n = 40, and n = 47, respectively.