Hepatitis B Serology in Patients with Rheumatic Diseases.

CONCLUSION: Prevalence of hepatitis B serostatus in the analysed rheumatic patients regarding HBs-Ag and HBcAb with or without HBsAb prior to therapy does not differ from the data published for the general population in Germany. However, the rate of hepatitis B vaccinated patients was lower. In general, a significant portion of patients (5.9%) has been exposed to HBV and therefore exhibited an increased risk of reactivation of hepatitis B when undergoing immunosuppressive therapy.
PMID: 27708728 [PubMed - in process]

Source: Open Rheumatology Journal - October 10, 2016 Category: Rheumatology Tags: Open Rheumatol J Source Type: research