title: Recent epidemiological and clinical features of acute hepatitis B in a single center of China.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study was to investigate the epidemiological and clinical features of acute hepatitis B.
  
  
  METHODS
  A retrospective study of 177 acute hepatitis B patients with an average age of 36.03 years and range of 7-62 years was conducted from Jan 2005 to Feb 2011. The epidemiological and clinical parameters were investigated. The serological markers and biochemical tests were examined.
  
  
  RESULTS
  76.84% (n = 136) patients were icteric type, while 23.16% (n = 41) were non-icteric type. Other clinical manifestations for acute hepatitis patients included fatigue (82.49%), gastrointestinal symptoms (66.10%), yellowish discoloration of skin and sclera, fever (31.07%), rash 10 (5.65%), joint pain (2.82%) and headache (1.69%). One case presented with acute renal failure associated with acute hepatitis B. Nine cases suffered from fulminant hepatitis. After treatment, hepatic function was significantly improved (P < 0.05). For serological markers, 54 (30.51%) and 119 (67.23%) patients had HBsAg and HBV-DNA seroconversion respectively. Four deaths occurred due to the severe complications associated by acute infection of HBV during half a year period follow up.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Adult males with occupation of workers and farmers are the high-risk population of acute hepatitis B in China. Several complications associated with acute hepatitis B should be noticed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University Harbin 150001, China.
authors.forename: Xiaohong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University Harbin 150001, China.
authors.forename: Chengtao
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University Harbin 150001, China.
authors.forename: Jia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University Harbin 150001, China.
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Shan
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University Harbin 150001, China.
authors.forename: Chenglin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Liu
keywords: Acute hepatitis B; clinical features; complications; epidemiology