Antiviral treatment in HBV infection reduces risk of kidney disease development: Study

A new study published in the journal of BMC Nephrology revealed that kidney disease (KD) caused by an infection with the hepatitis B virus (HBV), can be reduced by anti-HBV therapy.

Chronic HBV infection is linked to extrahepatic comorbidities, such as renal symptoms, in addition to potential liver-related sequelae including cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Kidney disease (KD) and HBV infection have been linked in a number of studies. According to research that looked at Medicare and Medicaid claims data from 2006 to 2015, patients with HBV had a greater frequency of KD than matched controls, and this prevalence rose with time. Moreover, an elevated risk of developing end-stage renal disease (ESRD) has also been linked to untreated HBV.

This research investigated whether KD development is linked to HBV-related liver illness, if anti-HBV medication reduces these risks, and whether patients with HBV have a greater chance of developing KD using a big US-based electronic medical record (EMR) database. From 2006 to 2020, information was retrieved from the IQVIA Ambulatory EMR database. To improve balance across analyses, propensity score matching was used. Hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% CIs for the start of KD between groups were estimated using a Cox proportional hazards model.