The course and outcome of chronic hepatitis B in children
Miminoshvili, M.I.; Kozlova, T.P.; Ketuladze, E.S.; Braginskiĭ, D.M.; Sergeeva, N.A.; Kelli, E.I.; Romanova, A.P.; Grossman, I.A.
Pediatriia 1: 47-51
1992
ISSN/ISBN: 0031-403X PMID: 1614802 Document Number: 388650
Overall 98 children aged 1 to 14 years suffering from chronic hepatitis B (CHB) were followed up clinically for 1 to 6 years. CHB was diagnosed on the basis of the clinical and laboratory data. In the majority of the children, the diagnosis was verified by the results of a histological study of liver biopsy specimens. Chronic active hepatitis (CAH), was revealed in 27 children, chronic persistent hepatitis (CPH) in 31. CHB was marked by the presence of HBe-antigenemia in 89 patients (90.8%). The studies have demonstrated that CHB associated with HBe-antigenemia runs its course with insignificant clinical manifestations and enzymic exacerbations without jaundice. In the presence of persistent HBs-antigenemia, the natural course of CHB (in CAH and CPH) is characterized by seroconversion (from HBeAg to anti-HBe) with a simultaneous decrease and normalization of aminotransferase activity and a reduction of the pathological process activity in the liver (transformation of CAH to CPH). Seroconversion and clinico-biochemical amelioration supervene at different observation periods (after 1-6 years) and do not depend on the initial activity of hepatitis. As the observation period increases, the rate of anti-HBe appearance in the blood rises, amounting to 90% with the observation period exceeding 5 years. The conclusion is made that CHB patients do not need active drug therapy but require long and permanent observation.