Patients with hepatitis B virus (HBV) incurred higher liver-related hospital charges and higher mean increase for all-cause and liver-related hospitalization charges over an 8-year period and also had slightly lower mortality rate, compared to patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV), a recent study found. The retrospective cohort analysis of HBV and HCV patients from the California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Developing (2006-2013) database compared HBV and HCV related hospital admission rates, charges, mortality rates, causes of death in a US population-based study. Researchers found:

• A total of 23,891 HBV and 148,229 HCV patients were included.
• Across the 8-year study period, the mean increase for all-cause and liver-related hospitalization charges were significantly higher for the HBV cohort vs the HCV cohort.
• HBV patients also had significantly higher liver-related hospital charges per person per year vs HCV patients after controlling for covariates.
• Compared to HCV patients, adjusted mortality hazard ratio was slightly lower in HPV patients (RR, 0.96).
• Major causes and places of death differed between the groups.