Association Between Depression or Anxiety and the Risk of Hepatitis B Flares: A Nationwide Population-Based Cohort...

Depression and anxiety have been reported to increase the risk of infectious diseases and reactivation of latent infection. We conducted a nationwide population-based retrospective cohort study to determine the relationship between hepatitis B flares and depression or anxiety, utilizing outpatient and inpatient data from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research database collected from 2000 to 2015.

A total of 12,992 patients with chronic hepatitis B and newly diagnosed anxiety/depression, without advanced liver disease, were propensity score-matched for age, sex, and comorbidities in a 1:4 ratio to 51,968 controls with chronic hepatitis B without depression/anxiety or advanced liver disease. Both groups were followed-up until December 31, 2015. Cox proportional hazards regression was used to determine the risk factors for hepatitis B flares. The Log rank test and Kaplan-Meier analysis were performed to assess differences in the cumulative incidence of hepatitis B flares according to anxiety/depression status.

The incidence of hepatitis B flares was higher in the depression/anxiety cohort than in the control cohort (log-rank; p < 0.001). Patients with depression/anxiety had a significantly higher incidence rate of hepatitis B flares than those without depression/anxiety (3017 per 10⁵ person-years versus 2042 per 10⁵ person-years, p = 0.003). After adjusting for age and comorbidities, anxiety/depression was independently associated with an increased risk of hepatitis B flares (hazard ratio, 1.173; 95% confidence interval, 1.033-1.277; p = 0.003).

This analysis suggests that in patients with chronic hepatitis B without advanced liver disease, those with concomitant depression or anxiety may be at higher risk of hepatitis B flares.