Low Positive Rates for HBeAg and HBV DNA in Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients—A Case-Control Study

Background: The rates of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients were controversial when considering the reported outcomes. It was speculated that HBV infection status altered after suffering from RA, and variations over HBV infection rates became apparent. Methods To compare the positive proportions of hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) and HBV DNA, a case-control study was performed between the 27 chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients with RA and the 108 age-and gender-matched CHB patients. In addition, the positive rates of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and hepatitis B core antibody (anti-HBc) were surveyed among the 892 RA patients. Results Compared to the CHB patients, the CHB patients with RA exhibited lower rates of HBeAg positivity (11.1% vs. 35.2%, P = 0.003), HBV DNA positivity (37.0% vs. 63.9%, P = 0.007) and ALT elevation (11.1% vs. 35.2%, P = 0.024). In the 892 RA patients, the prevalence of HBsAg (3.0%) was lower than that of China national data (7.2%), whereas the anti-HBc positive rate of 44.6% was higher than that of 34.1%. Conclusion HBV infection status altered after suffering from RA. Compared to the matched CHB patients, low positive proportions of HBeAg and HBV DNA were observed for CHB patients with RA.