title: The clinical and laboratory characteristics of patients with chronic hepatitis B using current or past antiviral therapy in Korea: a multi-center, nation-wide, cross-sectional epidemiologic study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The proper assessment of the current disease status of patients with chronic hepatitis B would be valuable for establishing optimal management strategies.
  
  
  METHODS
  The clinical and laboratory characteristics of 2,954 patients with current or previous antiviral treatment (46.2±10.8 years, 69.7% male) enrolled from 46 referral hospitals and 129 local hospitals or clinics throughout Korea were analyzed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The disease status included chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma in 79.9%, 16.4%, and 3.7% of the patients, respectively. The major mode of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection was vertical transmission. The hepatitis C virus (HCV) co-infection rate was 1.5%; however, only 50.8% of patients were evaluated for HCV. The use of herbal or complementary medicines was reported in 33.5% of the patients. The majority of patients (97.6%) were treated with oral nucleoside/nucleotide analogues. Several characteristics were different between the patients treated at referral hospitals and local hospitals/clinics, including the disease state, choice of antiviral drug, and methods of HBV DNA measurement.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study provides a comprehensive picture of the clinical and laboratory characteristics of patients treated in Korea. Efforts to optimize management strategies are warranted.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Moon Seok
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Dong Hyun
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Sinn
authors.forename: Su-A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Yil Seob
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Won
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Seung Woon
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Paik