[The hepatitis B virus in alcoholic liver disease: its clinical and biochemical assessment]

The aim of our work was to study the prevalence of HBV markers in Alcoholic Liver Disease (ALD) by evaluating clinical and biochemical parameters that could further characterize the association. A prospective and sequential study of 107 patients with ALD was performed, including 83 cases of cirrhosis and 24 cases of alcoholic hepatitis. Daily ingestion of pure ethanol was of at least 70 gm for seven years or more and always associated with hepatocellular disfunction. According to the serological profile for HBV markers the patients were allocated to one of four groups: group I infected (positivity of HBsAg and anti-HBc); group II immunized (positivity of anti-HBs and anti-HBc); group III without HBV markers (negativity of HBsAg, anti-HBc and anti-HBs); group IV isolated anti-HBc. The prevalence of HBsAg positivity in ALD was high: 15.89% whereas immunity was low: 26.17% suggesting a great exposure to the virus and a deficient immunological response. No significant statistical differences were found among the three groups when clinical and biochemical parameters were individually considered. Nevertheless, when a Child/Campbell classification was applied, patients with ALD associated with HBV (group I) showed a significant difference, presenting a predominance of child C, with a bad prognosis.