Description |
Background Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is a significant contributor to the liver disease burden. Purpose We assessed the effect of HBV treatment on all-cause and liver-related mortality among individuals with HBV and cirrhosis in British Columbia (BC), Canada. Methods Using data from the BC Hepatitis Testers Cohort, we included people with HBV and cirrhosis and followed them from their cirrhosis diagnosis date until death or December 31, 2020. We used multivariable Cox proportional hazard models and adjusted for time-varying treatment status and confounders. Results: Among 4,962 people with HBV and cirrhosis (2,386 treated), HBV treatment was associated with over 25% reduction of all-cause (aHR 0.75; 95% CI: 0.66, 0.85) and liver-related (asHR 0.74; 95% CI: 0.65, 0.83) mortality. Conclusion: HBV treatment reduced the risk of all-cause and liver-related mortality among individuals with cirrhosis. These findings highlight the need for early HBV diagnosis and treatment among people with cirrhosis. |