Significant histopathology in Chinese chronic hepatitis B patients with persistently high–normal alanine aminotransferase

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Current guidelines recommend antiviral therapy for chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients with elevated alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and high viral load. Scant histological data exist for CHB patients with persistently normal ALT (PNALT) because disease progression is thought to be rare. To identify potential predictors of significant histology in the presence of PNALT, we compared the clinical characteristics and histology of Chinese CHB PNALT patients to those in patients with elevated ALT. Percutaneous liver biopsy was performed in 522 CHB patients with Chinese ethnicity who had not had antiviral treatment. Differences in age, ALT, viral load, hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) status and liver histology were compared between eligible PNALT (252) and elevated ALT (270) patients. Of the PNALT patients, 38.5% had normal liver histology, 25.4% had significant necroinflammation and/or fibrosis and 8.4% had established cirrhosis. Furthermore, histopathological differences between patients with high-normal ALT (0.5-1.0 x the upper limit of normal (ULN)) and low-normal ALT (≤ 0.5 x ULN) were evaluated. There was a significantly greater prevalence of histopathology in the high-normal group (40.0%) than in the low-normal group (16.6%) (P < 0.001). Multiple logistic regression identified that significant histopathology findings in PNALT patients correlated with age (P < 0.001) and ALT level (P < 0.001), with age >40 years and ALT >0.5 x ULN predicting significant histopathology. Our data indicate that liver biopsy is recommended in CHB patients >40 years of age, particularly when their ALT is 0.5-1.0 x ULN. The findings above provide evidence for indication of antiviral therapy in patients with PNALT and significant histopathological change.