A clinical-pathological study on chronic hepatitis in Auckland

Abstract

We prospectively analysed the liver histology and clinical data of 45 patients with a clinical diagnosis of chronic hepatitis. There was more chronic active hepatitis than chronic persistent hepatitis. In both, there were more men than women except in the subgroup of lupoid hepatitis, where all were women. As a group, chronic persistent hepatitis patients tended to have less severe abnormalities in biochemical liver function tests. Chronic hepatitis B infection accounted for 38% (17/45) of all patients. Of these, 53% (9/17) were Maori or Polynesian, although they only account for approximately 1/5 of the European population in Auckland. This correlated with the known high hepatitis B surface antigen carrier frequency in the Maori and Polynesian and the high incidence of primary hepatocellular carcinoma in this ethnic group. The present study also showed there are relatively few chronic active hepatitis patients, those with immunological abnormalities (lupoid hepatitis, 5/45), who are likely to respond to steroid treatment.