Prevalence, incidence, and outcomes of hepatitis E virus coinfection in patients with chronic hepatitis C

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 13; no. 1; pp. 13632 - 12
• Main Authors: Jang, Eun Sun, Choi, Gwang Hyeon, Kim, Young Seok, Kim, In Hee, Lee, Youn Jae, Cho, Sung Beom, Kim, Yun-Tae, Jeong, Sook-Hyang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 21.08.2023; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 631/326/596/1905; 631/326/596/2562; 692/4020/4021; Cirrhosis; Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay; Hepatitis; Hepatitis C; Hepatocellular carcinoma; Humanities and Social Sciences; Immunoglobulin G; Liver; Liver cancer; Mortality; multidisciplinary; Patients; Risk factors; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Seroconversion; Viruses
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-39019-3

This study aimed to elucidate the anti-hepatitis E virus (HEV) immunoglobulin G (IgG) prevalence and incidence of seroconversion and seroreversion as well as its risk factors and to analyze the clinical outcomes of HEV and hepatitis C virus (HCV) coinfected patients compared to those of HCV-monoinfected patients. We prospectively enrolled 502 viremic HCV patients with paired plasma samples (at intervals of ≥ 12 months) from 5 tertiary hospitals. Anti-HEV IgG positivity was tested using the Wantai ELISA kit in all paired samples. Mean age was 58.2 ± 11.5 years old, 48.2% were male, 29.9% of patients had liver cirrhosis, and 9.4% of patients were diagnosed with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The overall prevalence of anti-HEV IgG positivity at enrollment was 33.3%, with a higher prevalence in males and increasing prevalence according to the subject’s age. During the 916.4 person-year, the HEV incidence rate was 0.98/100 person-years (9/335, 2.7%). Hepatic decompensation or liver-related mortality was not observed. There were six seroreversion cases among 172 anti-HEV-positive patients (1.22/100 person-years). In conclusion, approximately one-third of the adult Korean chronic HCV patients were anti-HEV IgG positive. The HEV incidence rate was 1 in 100 persons per year, without adverse hepatic outcomes or mortality.