Occult Hepatitis B in Patients with Decompensated Chronic Liver Disease: A Cross Sectional Study at Tertiary Care Hospital, Peshawar
Authors: Naim Fahad , Iqbal Muhammad Darwesh , Amjad Syeda Hijab , Naeem Awais , Taqweem Muhammad Amjad , Tayyaba  , Ahmad Wasim 
Published: July 2023

OBJECTIVES
The objective of this study was to find the frequency of occult hepatitis B in patients presenting with Decompensated chronic liver disease.
METHODOLOGY
This descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted at a tertiary care hospital at Peshawar-KP from 31st December 2021 to 31st May 2022.143 patients were enrolled. Informed consent was taken from all patients who were enrolled in this study. We included patients aged 18-60 years of either gender. All patients admitted to medical units or visiting Medical OPDs having decompensated Chronic liver disease were enrolled. A consecutive sampling technique was used to enroll patients for our study. Baseline characteristics, demographics and laboratory data were collected on predesigned proforma. All patients were screened for Hepatitis B infection by performing HBsAg with ELISA, and patients with negative surface antigens were eligible for the study.RESULTSOur study population age range was from 18 to 60 years, with a mean age of 43.30±8.00 years. There were 100 male (69.9%) patients and 43 female (30.1%) patients. Occult Hepatitis B was observed in 40(28%) patients with decompensated chronic liver disease. Among these patients, 26 were male, and 14 were female. Stratification for Occult Hepatitis B was done concerning age & gender to see any significant difference in distribution. There was no significant difference in the distribution of Occult Hepatitis B among different age groups and gender.
CONCLUSION
This study has shown that a significant proportion of decompensated chronic liver disease patients had evidence of occult hepatitis B infection.
Methodology: This was a descriptive, cross sectional study that was conducted at a tertiary care hospital at Peshawar-KP from 31st December 2021 till 31st May 2022.. 143 patients were enrolled in this study. An informed consent was taken from all patients who were enrolled in this study. We included patients having age 18-60 years of either gender. All patients admitted in medical units or visiting Medical OPDs having decompensated Chronic liver disease were enrolled. Consecutive sampling technique was used to enroll patients for our study. Baseline characteristics, demographics and laboratory data was collected on predesigned proforma. All patients were screened for Hepatitis B infection by performing HBsAg with ELISA and patients with negative surface antigen were eligible for the study.
Results: Our study population age range was from 18 to 60 years with mean age of 43.30±8.00 years There were 100 male (69.9%) patients and 43 female (30.1%) patients. Occult Hepatitis B was observed in 40(28%) of patients with decompensated chronic liver disease. Among these patients, 26 were male and 14 were female. Stratification for Occult Hepatitis B was done with respect to age & gender to see any significant difference in distribution. There was no significant difference in distribution of Occult Hepatitis B among different age groups and gender.
Conclusion: This study has shown that significant proportion of decompensated chronic liver disease patients had evidence of occult hepatitis B infection.