Why carry out this study?

Approximately 257 million people were living with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection globally (in 2015), and nearly 1 million deaths are caused by the infection each year; however, there is a lack of real-world epidemiological data on these patients

This study used patient medical claims data to determine the prevalence, characteristics, treatment patterns, and clinical outcomes of patients infected with chronic HBV in the US, Germany, and Taiwan

What was learned from the study?

Chronic HBV infection prevalence was highest in Taiwan versus Germany and the US, with the lowest proportion of patients coinfected with HCV and/or HIV in Taiwan

Nucleos(t)ide monotherapy was the most commonly used treatment in each country; however, the proportions of patients receiving treatment was low and long-term sequelae occurred in all populations, suggesting a potential unmet need for (or access to) effective treatments