Risks of Chronicity Following Acute Hepatitis B Virus Infection: A Review

A bibliographic search was conducted of English-language articles dealing with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection to evaluate the risk of chronicity following acute infection. Chronic HBV infection was defined as carriage of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) for at least 6 months. On the basis of incidence studies employing standard serological test methods, the highest risk (80%–90%) of chronic infection was found to be among infected neonates born to hepatitis B e antigen—positive carrier mothers. Of children infected before 6 years of age, chronic infection was reported to develop in ∼30%. A relatively wide range of risks (