Impact of fatty liver on hepatitis B virus replication and virologic response to tenofovir and entecavir.

BACKGROUND/AIMS We aimed to evaluate the impact of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) on viral kinetics and virologic response to tenofovir and entecavir treatment in patients with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. MATERIALS AND METHODS This study was designed as a retrospective multicenter cohort study. The impact of hepatosteatosis on pre-treatment serum HBV DNA levels and also on the virologic response to either tenofovir or entecavir at 6 and 12 months of therapy was investigated. RESULTS A total of 145 cases were involved in the study [median age 40 (18-73) years, 90 (62%) males]. In multivariate analysis, it was detected that patients with NAFLD were older and had a higher body mass index (BMI) [Odds ratio (95% confidence interval) and p-value for age were 1.040 (1.003-1.079) and 0.033 and for BMI were 1.348 (1.190-1.528) and 0.0001, respectively]. When only the 43 patients who were younger than 35.5 years old and who had a BMI less than 27.59 were investigated, serum high-density lipoprotein (HDL) levels and serum HBV DNA levels were lower in patients with NAFLD in multivariate analysis [Odds ratio (95% confidence interval) and p-values for serum HDL level and HBV DNA level were 0.864 (0.061-0.980) and 0.023 and 0.995 (0.990-0.999) and 0.025, respectively]. Totally, 57 and 75 of the patients had received entecavir and tenofovir, respectively. CONCLUSION Viral replication decreases in patients with chronic HBV infection in the presence of NAFLD, and NAFLD had no impact on the virologic response to entecavir and tenofovir treatment.