title: Characteristics of adults in the hepatitis B research network in North America reflect their country of origin and hepatitis B virus genotype.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is an important cause of cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma worldwide; populations that migrate to the United States and Canada might be affected disproportionately. The Hepatitis B Research Network (HBRN) is a cooperative network of investigators from the United States and Canada, created to facilitate clinical, therapeutic, and translational research in adults and children with hepatitis B. We describe the structure of the network and baseline characteristics of adults with hepatitis B enrolled in the network.
  
  
  METHODS
  The HBRN collected data on the clinical characteristics of 1625 adults with chronic HBV infection who are not receiving antiviral therapy from 21 clinical centers in North America.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Half of the subjects in the HBRN are men, and the median age is 42 years; 72% are Asian, 15% are black, and 11% are white; with 82% born outside of North America. The most common HBV genotype was B (39%); 74% of subjects were negative for the hepatitis B e antigen. The median serum level of HBV DNA when the study began was 3.6 log10 IU/mL; 68% of male subjects and 67% of female subjects had alanine aminotransferase levels higher than the normal range.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The HBRN cohort is used to address important clinical and therapeutic questions for North Americans infected with chronic HBV and to guide health policies on HBV prevention and management in North America.
authors.affiliation: Liver Diseases Branch, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland. Electronic address: marcg@intra.niddk.nih.gov.
authors.forename: Marc G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Ghany
authors.affiliation: Hepatology Division, Baylor University Medical Center, Dallas, Texas.
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Perrillo
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
authors.forename: Ruosha
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
authors.forename: Steven H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Belle
authors.affiliation: Division of Gastroenterology, Toronto Western and General Hospitals, University Health Network, Toronto, Canada.
authors.forename: Harry L A
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: Janssen
authors.affiliation: Division of Gastroenterology, University of California-San Francisco, San Francisco, California.
authors.forename: Norah A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Terrault
authors.affiliation: Viral Hepatitis and Liver Clinic, Harborview Medical Center/University of Washington, Seattle, Washington.
authors.forename: Margaret C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Shuhart
authors.affiliation: Division of Gastroenterology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Daryl T-Y
authors.initials: DT
authors.lastname: Lau
authors.affiliation: Division of Gastroenterology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, California.
authors.forename: W Ray
authors.initials: WR
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: University of North Carolina Liver Center, Section of Hepatology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
authors.forename: Michael W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Fried
authors.affiliation: Section of Hepatology, Virginia Commonwealth University Health System, Richmond, Virginia.
authors.forename: Richard K
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Sterling
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Saint Louis University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri.
authors.forename: Adrian M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Di Bisceglie
authors.affiliation: Pfleger Liver Institute Clinic, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California-Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California.
authors.forename: Steven-Huy B
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Han
authors.affiliation: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/Division of Viral Hepatitis/Molecular Epidemiology and Bioinformatics Sequencing Laboratory, Atlanta, Georgia.
authors.forename: Lilia Milkova
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Ganova-Raeva
authors.affiliation: Penn Center for Viral Hepatitis, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
authors.forename: Kyong-Mi
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.affiliation: Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
authors.forename: Anna Suk-Fong
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Lok
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002170:Canada; D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D006515:Hepatitis B virus / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D019694:Hepatitis B, Chronic / Q000821:virology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D014481:United States; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: ALT; Chronic Hepatitis B Virus Infection; HBeAg; USA