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Open Access 03-01-2025 | Hepatitis B | Review

Existing problems and new advice on stage criteria of natural history for chronic hepatitis B

Author: Tongjing Xing

Published in: BMC Infectious Diseases | Issue 1/2025

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Abstract

The natural stages of chronic hepatitis B can be divided into four stages according to changes in virology, biochemistry, and pathology. However, there have been significant differences in the recommended stage criteria in the several major guidelines for chronic hepatitis B, especially regarding the immune tolerance phase. Inconsistent standards of indicators for different stages resulted in some problems, such as incorrect stage, uncertain stages and poor comparation of related studies. We propose suggestions for revisions to the stage criteria for CHB based on recent researches, including three stages: immune tolerance stage, immune clearance stage, and immune control stage. These revision suggestions rationalize some of the existing problems with the stage criteria for CHB and can significantly reduce the number of patients in the “uncertain stage” or “gray zone,” which is particularly valuable in guiding clinical practice. However, further clinical studies with large samples are needed to confirm these suggestions.
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Metadata
Title
Existing problems and new advice on stage criteria of natural history for chronic hepatitis B
Author
Tongjing Xing
Publication date
03-01-2025
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
BMC Infectious Diseases / Issue 1/2025
Electronic ISSN: 1471-2334
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12879-024-10408-x