title: [Clinical study on hepatitis D virus-positive patients died from severe hepatitis B].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the role of hepatitis D virus (HDV) in the development of severe hepatitis B.
  
  
  METHODS
  Seventy-six HDV-positive patients died from severe hepatitis B were compared with 244 HDV-negative patients from severe hepatitis B in clinical manifestations, signs, complications and main biochemical indexes at the same period.
  
  
  RESULTS
  HDV-positive patients had obvious ascites, abdominal distension, digestive tract hemorrhage as compared with the HDV-negative ones (P<0.05). There were significant differences in hepatorenal syndrome, bacterial infection, manifold complications, the levels of total bilirubin and alanine aminotransferase, and the activity of prothrombin between the patients of the two groups (P<0.01).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  HDV can aggravate severe hepatitis B.
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Diseases, Southwest Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing 400038, China.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Xiang
authors.forename: Q
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wu
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000150:complications / Q000821:virology*; D003698:Hepatitis Delta Virus / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged