Diabetes prevention through prevention of hepatitis B
Journal
Hepatology
Journal Volume
64
Journal Issue
3
Pages
987-988
Date Issued
2016
Author(s)
Abstract
Potential conflict of interest: Nothing to report. To the Editor: We read the article by Khalili et al.1 with great interest. The relationship between hepatitis B and diabetes is very intriguing. In this predominantly Asian population with hepatitis B surface antigen‐positive (HBsAg+) serology, the prevalence of diabetes was 12.5%. The authors compared the prevalence of diabetes from the general US population and concluded that diabetes was more prevalent in hepatitis B virus‐infected adults than the general population. Based on a recent report on the US population in 2011‐2012,2 the overall prevalence of diabetes is 14.3% and 20.6% in the Asian subgroup, which is much higher than reported in this study. However, the difference could be due to the definition of diabetes used in this study, based on only history or fasting plasma glucose which could definitely underestimate the prevalence. We recently examined the prevalence of diabetes based on the vaccination history and hepatitis B serology in the adult population from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2005‐2010.3 The prevalence of diabetes was 11.62% in those who received hepatitis B vaccination, while it was 19.14% in those without vaccination. In the population with serological evidence of immunization (hepatitis B surface antibody+/hepatitis B core antibody−/HBsAg−), the prevalence was 6.72%, while it was 19.01% in those without. In the population with successful vaccination as defined by history of vaccination and serology (hepatitis B surface antibody+/hepatitis B core antibody−/HBsAg−), the prevalence was 5.36%, while it was 18.51% in those without. After adjustment for covariates, hepatitis B vaccination history is not protective for diabetes (odds ratio = 1.08, 95% confidence interval 0.96‐1.23), while successful vaccination of hepatitis B reduces the risk of diabetes by 33% (odds ratio = 0.67, 95% confidence interval 0.52‐0.84). However, we were not able to examine the impact of HBsAg in this population due to a low prevalence (0.13%). With the majority of projected increases in the prevalence of diabetes by 2030 stemming from developing countries4 where hepatitis B is epidemic,5 prevention of hepatitis B by vaccination could provide a unique opportunity to reduce the burden of both hepatitis B and diabetes.
SDGs
Other Subjects
glucose; hepatitis B core antibody; hepatitis B surface antigen; hepatitis B vaccine; hepatitis B vaccine; diabetes mellitus; disease association; glucose blood level; hepatitis B; human; infection prevention; Letter; medical history; prevalence; priority journal; risk reduction; vaccination; hepatitis B; insulin dependent diabetes mellitus; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1; Hepatitis B; Hepatitis B Vaccines; Humans
Publisher
John Wiley and Sons Inc.
Type
letter