key: cord-0697100-43bk6dfh
authors: Yip, Terry Cheuk‐Fung; Wong, Vincent Wai‐Sun; Wong, Grace Lai‐Hung
title: Reply to Letters to the Editor: Clinical outcomes in COVID‐19 patients with current or past hepatitis B virus infection
date: 2021-08-15
journal: Hepatology
DOI: 10.1002/hep.32116
sha: 2e079ed2956966dcadc1d24bdb7c48ed48e57238
doc_id: 697100
cord_uid: 43bk6dfh

The letters by Jindal (1) and Lv et al. (2) provided important suggestions to interpret our recent article published in HEPATOLOGY, which concluded that current and past hepatitis B virus (HBV) infections are not associated with liver injury and mortality in COVID‐19.(3) Also, liver injury was shown to be associated with mortality in COVID‐19, which echoed with our previous study.

The letters by Jindal (1) and Lv et al. (2) provided important suggestions to interpret our recent article published in HEPATOLOGY, which concluded that current and past hepatitis B virus (HBV) infections are not associated with liver injury and mortality in COVID-19.(3) Also, liver injury was shown to be associated with mortality in COVID-19, which echoed with our previous study. (4) We have also examined the impact of COVID-19-related medication use on liver injury.

Regarding the severity of COVID-19, 295 (6.0%), 34 (9.6%), and 52 (14.5%) patients who had no, current, and past HBV infection were admitted to intensive care unit; 154 (3.1%), 13 (3.7%), and 26 (7.2%) required invasive mechanical ventilation, respectively. This might reflect the advanced age and burden of comorbidities among patients with past HBV infection compared to the other groups.

In our cohort, 79/5,639 (1.4%) patients had liver cirrhosis, which was associated with more mortality. 

Outcomes in chronic hepatitis B infection and COVID-19 -Not always benign ! Hepatology

Letter to the Editor: unanswered questions about hepatitis B virus infection in patients with COVID-19

Current and past infections of hepatitis B virus do not increase mortality in patients with COVID-19

Liver injury is independently associated with adverse clinical outcomes in patients with COVID-19

Outcomes following SARS-CoV-2 infection in patients with chronic liver disease: An international registry study

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