Andrei Vâţă, Mihaela Catalina Luca, Carmen Manciuc, Cristina Nicolau, Luminita Gina Vata and Carmen Mihaela Dorobat

ABSTRACT

Changes in the viral subtypes, in hygienic measures and the effects of the national vaccination program are factors that can influence the epidemiological and clinical features of acute hepatitis B. Material and methods. we retrospectively studied and compared two groups of patients diagnosed with acute hepatitis B in the Infectious Diseases Hospital of Iasi between 1997 and 2001 (group 1-582 cases) and between 2007 and 2011 (group 2-142 cases).

Results. Between the two intervals, the annual number of cases dropped by more than 4 times (p = 0.0006), the mean age of the patients has significantly increased (p < 0.001), as the proportion of those with rural origin (p = 0.003). Risk factors for the transmission of HBV were identified more frequently in the first group (p = 0.04). The maximum level of ALT has not changed, but a significant rise in the maximum level of total bilirubin was seen (p = 0.0004). The second group had a higher proportion of severe (p = 0.01) and prolonged (p = 0.04) forms of disease. Antiviral therapy was more common in the second group (p < 0.001), but the lethality was higher here too (p = 0.07).

Conclusions. The clinical and epidemiological profile of acute hepatitis B has significantly changed in the last 15 years, the decrease in the annual number of cases being paralleled by an increase of severe or cholestatic forms of disease

Key words: incidence, clinical form, cytolysis

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