Association of Hepatitis B Virus Ribonucleic Acid with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in Chronic Hepatitis B.

Objective

To evaluate whether serum hepatitis B virus (HBV) ribonucleic acid (RNA) positivity, compared with HBV deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), is independently associated with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB). STUDY

Design

A descriptive study. Place and Duration of the Study: Department of Clinical Laboratory, Wenzhou Central Hospital, Wenzhou, China, from October 2023 to May 2025. METHODOLOGY This study included 1,843 patients with CHB. The relationships between HBV markers and T2DM were examined in 239 patients. The association between T2DM and different HBV RNA/DNA stratifications was assessed using multivariate logistic regression.

Results

Among 1,843 patients, there was a moderate positive correlation between HBV RNA and HBV DNA levels (r = 0.452, p <0.001). Among 239 patients, the prevalence of T2DM was significantly higher in the HBV RNA-positive group than in the RNA-negative group (p = 0.021). By contrast, there was no statistically significant difference in T2DM prevalence between the HBV DNA-positive and DNA-negative groups (p = 0.242). Multivariate analysis showed that HBV DNA was not significantly associated (p > 0.05), whereas RNA positivity was an independent risk factor for T2DM (odds ratio [OR] = 2.091, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.127-3.881, p = 0.019). Stratified analysis showed that patients with HBV DNA-negative/RNA-positive status had the highest risk of T2DM (OR = 2.981, 95% CI = 1.316-6.755, p = 0.009) compared with the HBV DNA-negative/RNA-negative reference group. Furthermore, male gender was independently associated with T2DM (OR range = 3.480-3.764, p < 0.001).

Conclusion

HBV RNA (especially DNA-negative) better assesses T2DM risk in patients with CHB. KEY WORDS Type q2 diabetes mellitus, Hepatitis B virus, Hepatitis B virus ribonucleic acid, Hepatitis B virus deoxyribonucleic acid, Risk factors.