An increase in intracellular HBsAg secondary to direct infection of hepatocytes by HIV may potentially contribute to the adverse effects of HIV on the natural history of HBV infection. Acknowledgments This work neverless was supported by a Postgraduate Scholarship from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) of Australia (D.M.I.). S.R.L. is an NHMRC Practitioner Fellow. No conflicts of interest exist. Footnotes Published ahead of print on 31 March 2010.
AIM: To determine the association of hepatitis B virus (HBV) genotypes with probable cirrhosis and fatty liver in community-based populations. METHODS: A multi-stage cluster probability sampling method was applied to recruit 10 167 subjects aged between 6 and 72 years from our epidemiological bases in Eastern China.

After excluding the subjects co-infected with hepatitis C or hepatitis D viruses, the hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg)-positive subjects were examined for HBV genotype, serum viral load, alanine aminotransferase (ALT), hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) status, and ultrasonographic changes. Logistic regression models were used to determine the factors associated with probable cirrhosis and fatty liver. RESULTS: Of 634 HBsAg-positive subjects with HBV genotype determined, 82 had probable cirrhosis (ultrasonographic score �� 5), 42 had ultrasonographic fatty liver. Probable cirrhosis was only found in the HBeAg-negative subjects, and more frequently found in the subjects with genotype C than in those with genotype B (14.8% vs 8.0%, P = 0.018).

In HBeAg-negative subjects, high viral load was frequently associated with abnormal ALT level, while ALT abnormality was more frequent in those with probable cirrhosis than those without (19.5% vs 7.8%, P = 0.001). Univariate analysis showed that age, sex, HBV genotypes, and viral load were not significantly associated with ultrasonographic fatty liver, whereas ALT abnormality was significantly related to ultrasonographic fatty liver (OR = 4.54, 95% CI: 2.11-9.75, P < 0.001). Multivariate analysis demonstrated that HBV genotype C, age (�� 45 years), male sex, and ALT abnormality were independently associated with probable cirrhosis (AOR = 2.30, 95% CI: 1.26-4.19; AOR = 1.81, 95% CI: 1.10-2.99; AOR = 1.74, 95% CI: 1.03-2.95; AOR = 2.98, 95% CI: 1.48-5.99, respectively). CONCLUSION: A crude prevalence of probable cirrhosis is 12.9% in the community-based Dacomitinib HBV-infected subjects. HBV genotype C is independently associated with probable cirrhosis in the HBeAg-negative subjects. Keywords: Hepatitis B virus, Genotype, Viral load, Alanine aminotransferase, Probable cirrhosis, Ultrasonography INTRODUCTION Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a serious public health problem.