Most people with chronic hepatitis B have no symptoms, but some feel generally ill and tired and lose their appetite.
Having chronic hepatitis B increases the risk of liver cancer.
Doctors diagnose hepatitis B based on blood tests and occasionally do a liver biopsy to determine how damaged the liver is.
Not everyone with chronic hepatitis B needs treatment, but if chronic hepatitis B is damaging the liver (causing inflammation or scarring), an antiviral drug is started.
Treatment with antiviral drugs can help suppress the virus, prevent further inflammation and scarring in the liver, and allow any already damaged areas to heal. However there is no cure.
(See also Overview of Hepatitis Overview of Hepatitis Hepatitis is inflammation of the liver. (See also Overview of Acute Viral Hepatitis and Overview of Chronic Hepatitis.) Hepatitis is common throughout the world. Hepatitis can be Acute (short-lived) read more , Overview of Chronic Hepatitis Overview of Chronic Hepatitis Chronic hepatitis is inflammation of the liver that lasts at least 6 months. Common causes include hepatitis B and C viruses and certain drugs. Most people have no symptoms, but some have vague... read more , and Hepatitis B, Acute Hepatitis B, Acute Acute hepatitis B is inflammation of the liver that is caused by the hepatitis B virus and that lasts from a few weeks up to 6 months. Hepatitis B is spread through contact with blood or other... read more .)
An estimated 862,000 people in the United States and about 257 million people worldwide have chronic hepatitis B.
In the Far East and parts of Africa, hepatitis B virus accounts for many cases of chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis Cirrhosis of the Liver Cirrhosis is the widespread distortion of the liver's internal structure that occurs when a large amount of normal liver tissue is permanently replaced with nonfunctioning scar tissue. The scar... read more 
(severe scarring of the liver), and liver cancer Hepatocellular Carcinoma Hepatocellular carcinoma is a cancer that begins in the liver cells and is the most common of the primary liver cancers. Having hepatitis B or hepatitis C or fatty liver disease, or drinking... read more .
Overall, about 5 to 10% of people with acute hepatitis B develop chronic hepatitis B Hepatitis B, Chronic Chronic hepatitis B is inflammation of the liver that is caused by the hepatitis B virus and that has lasted more than 6 months. Most people with chronic hepatitis B have no symptoms, but some... read more . The younger the person is when acute hepatitis B occurs, the higher the risk of developing chronic hepatitis B:
Infants: 90%
Children aged 1 to 5 years: 25 to 50%
Adults: About 5%
If the level of hepatitis B virus (viral load) is high in pregnant women, they are often given antiviral drugs during the last trimester of pregnancy to prevent transmission of the virus from mother to child.
Acute hepatitis B becomes chronic in about 40% of people being treated with hemodialysis and in up to 20% of people with a weakened immune system.
Chronic hepatitis B tends to worsen, sometimes rapidly but sometimes over decades, leading to cirrhosis Cirrhosis of the Liver Cirrhosis is the widespread distortion of the liver's internal structure that occurs when a large amount of normal liver tissue is permanently replaced with nonfunctioning scar tissue. The scar... read more . Chronic hepatitis B also increases the risk of liver cancer Hepatocellular Carcinoma Hepatocellular carcinoma is a cancer that begins in the liver cells and is the most common of the primary liver cancers. Having hepatitis B or hepatitis C or fatty liver disease, or drinking... read more . About 20% of people with chronic hepatitis B develop cirrhosis or liver cancer and may die prematurely.
Some people who have chronic hepatitis B also have chronic hepatitis D. If untreated, the combination causes cirrhosis in up to 70% of affected people.
Symptoms of Chronic Hepatitis B
Symptoms of chronic hepatitis B vary depending on how badly the liver is damaged.
Many people with chronic hepatitis B, particularly children, have no symptoms. People who have symptoms usually feel generally ill and tired and lose their appetite. Some people have a low-grade fever and vague discomfort in the upper abdomen.
Often, the first specific symptoms occur when the liver disease has progressed and there is evidence of cirrhosis. Symptoms can include
An enlarged spleen
Small spiderlike blood vessels visible in the skin (called spider angiomas)
Redness of the palms
A tendency to bleed (coagulopathy)
Deterioration of brain function due to malfunction of the liver (hepatic encephalopathy Hepatic Encephalopathy Hepatic encephalopathy is deterioration of brain function that occurs in people with severe liver disease because toxic substances normally removed by the liver build up in the blood and reach... read more )
Brain function deteriorates because toxic substances build up in the blood and reach the brain. The liver normally removes them from the blood, breaks them down, then excretes them as harmless by-products into the bile or blood. The badly damaged liver is less able to remove them.
People have a tendency to bleed because the damaged liver can no longer synthesize enough of the proteins that help blood clot.
Diagnosis of Chronic Hepatitis B
Blood tests
Doctors may suspect chronic hepatitis B when
People have typical symptoms.
Blood tests (done for other reasons) detect abnormally high liver enzymes.
People have previously been diagnosed with acute hepatitis B.
Testing for chronic hepatitis usually begins with blood tests to determine how well the liver is functioning and whether it is damaged (liver tests Liver Blood Tests Liver tests are blood tests that represent a noninvasive way to screen for the presence of liver disease (for example, hepatitis in donated blood) and to measure the severity and progress of... read more ). Liver tests involve measuring the levels of liver enzymes and other substances produced by the liver. These tests may help determine the severity of liver damage.
If tests suggest hepatitis, doctors do other blood tests to check for the hepatitis B and C viruses. Both can cause chronic hepatitis. These blood tests can identify parts of specific viruses (antigens), specific antibodies produced by the body to fight the virus, and sometimes genetic material (RNA or DNA) of the virus. If doctors strongly suspect only hepatitis B, they may do blood tests for only that virus.
Doctors do blood tests to measure viral load, which is the amount of the hepatitis B virus's genetic material (DNA) that is present.
If chronic hepatitis B is confirmed, doctors often also check for antibodies to hepatitis D, which can also be present, and for HIV infection and hepatitis C because these infections are often spread in the same ways (through contact with bodily fluids, such as blood or semen).
A liver biopsy Biopsy of the Liver Doctors can obtain a sample of liver tissue during exploratory surgery, but more often they obtain a sample by inserting a hollow needle through the person's skin and into the liver. This type... read more or other tests are occasionally done to determine how badly the liver is damaged.
Screening for liver cancer
If people have chronic hepatitis B, screening for liver cancer is done every 6 months. The following are done:
Ultrasonography
Sometimes blood tests to measure the level of alpha-fetoprotein
The level of alpha-fetoprotein—a protein normally produced by immature liver cells in fetuses—usually increases when liver cancer is present.
Treatment of Chronic Hepatitis B
Antiviral drugs
Sometimes liver transplantation
Antiviral drugs are used when people have one or a combination of the following:
Abnormally high levels of liver enzymes
A high viral load (the amount of hepatitis B virus DNA in the blood)
Symptoms of worsening disease
Biopsy results indicating that liver damage is continuing
Treatment of hepatitis B with antiviral drugs can prevent further damage to the liver and allow any already damaged areas to heal. Most people treated for chronic hepatitis B must be treated indefinitely. However, these drugs cannot cure the disease.
Stopping treatment prematurely can lead to relapse, which may be severe. However, treatment may be stopped if blood tests no longer detect any active hepatitis B virus infection.
One of the following antiviral drugs is usually used first:
Entecavir
Tenofovir (two forms are available)
Pegylated interferon-alfa
These drugs are taken by mouth, are very effective, and have few side effects. Some people may be able to stop taking these drugs, but many have to take the drugs indefinitely.
Other drugs that are sometimes used include adefovir, lamivudine, and telbivudine. However, these drugs are no longer used first because they have an increased risk of side effects and can lose their effectiveness (called drug resistance Tolerance and Resistance to Drugs Tolerance is a person's diminished response to a drug, which occurs when the drug is used repeatedly and the body adapts to the continued presence of the drug. Resistance refers to the ability... read more ).
Liver transplantation Liver Transplantation Liver transplantation is the surgical removal of a healthy liver or sometimes a part of a liver from a living person and then its transfer into a person whose liver no longer functions. (See... read more should be considered if liver function is severely impaired. The transplanted liver is more likely to survive and hepatitis B is less likely to recur if
People with chronic hepatitis B have been taking antiviral drugs for a long time.
They are treated with hepatitis immune globulin before and often after transplantation.
Hepatitis B immune globulin is obtained from the blood of people who have high levels of antibodies to hepatitis B. It is given by injection into a muscle or into a vein. It helps the body fight infection.
More Information
The following is an English-language resource that may be useful. Please note that THE MANUAL is not responsible for the content of this resource.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Hepatitis B: This web site provides links to an overview of hepatitis B (including definitions, statistics, transmission, and screening) and information about the hepatitis B vaccine, symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment, as well as links to information for health care practitioners. Accessed May 19, 2022.
