Serological Evidence of Hepatitis B Infection in Patients with Chronic Liver Diseases: Radioimmunoassay of HBSAg and anti-HBS

The prevalence of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and anti-HBs was determined by a sensitive double-antibody radio-immunoassay technique in a series of patients with chronic liver diseases. HBsAg was demonstrated in 37 out of 98 consecutive patients with chronic hepatitis (38%) and in 14 out of 108 patients with non-alcoholic cirrhosis (13%). HBsAg was not found in any of the patients with steatosis, alcoholic cirrhosis, or primary biliary cirrhosis. In the patients with chronic hepatitis HBsAg or anti-HBs was demonstrated in 83% of the patients below 40 years of age in contrast to 48% of the patients more than 40 years of age. It is concluded that a substantial part of the patients with chronic hepatitis has serological evidence of actual or past hepatitis B virus infection. This is in contrast to the groups of patients with other chronic liver diseases.