Volume 32, Issue 6 e70035
ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Increasing Treatment Uptake for Chronic Hepatitis B in South America: A Comparative Analysis of Country-Specific and WHO 2024 Guidelines

Manuel Mendizabal

Corresponding Author

Manuel Mendizabal

Unidad de Hígado y Trasplante Hepático, Hospital Universitario Austral, Pilar, Argentina

Correspondence:

Manuel Mendizabal ([email protected])

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Constanza D. Sabate

Constanza D. Sabate

Unidad de Hígado y Trasplante Hepático, Hospital Universitario Austral, Pilar, Argentina

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Esteban González Ballerga

Esteban González Ballerga

Sección Hepatología, Hospital de Clínicas José de San Martín, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina

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Fernando Gruz

Fernando Gruz

Inmunología, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina

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Ezequiel Ridruejo

Ezequiel Ridruejo

Sección Hepatología, Departamento de Medicina, Centro de Educación Médica e Investigaciones Clínicas Norberto Quirno “CEMIC”, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina

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Alejandro Soza

Alejandro Soza

Departamento de Gastroenterología, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile

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Jaime Poniachik

Jaime Poniachik

Sección de Gastroenterología, Departamento de Medicina, Hospital Clínico de la Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile

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Grace Vergara

Grace Vergara

Sección Hepatología, Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina

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Victoria Mainardi

Victoria Mainardi

Programa Nacional de Trasplante Hepático y Servicio de Hepatología, Hospital Central de Las Fuerzas Armadas, Montevideo, Uruguay

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Gabriel Mezzano

Gabriel Mezzano

Sección de Gastroenterología, Hospital del Salvador, Santiago, Chile

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Fernando Bessone

Fernando Bessone

Departamento de Gastroenterología, Facultad de Medicina, Hospital Provincial del Centenario, Universidad de Rosario, Rosario, Argentina

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Margarita Anders

Margarita Anders

Unidad de Hígado y Trasplante Hepático, Hospital Alemán, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina

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Mario G. Pessoa

Mario G. Pessoa

Divisão de Gastroenterologia e Hepatologia, Hospital das Clínicas da Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

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Fernando Cairo

Fernando Cairo

Trasplante Hepático, Hospital El Cruce, Florencio Varela, Argentina

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Daniela Chiodi

Daniela Chiodi

Unidad Asistencial Gastroenterología, Facultad de Medicina, Hospital de Clínicas, UdelaR, Montevideo, Uruguay

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Melisa Dirchwolf

Melisa Dirchwolf

Unidad de Hígado, Hospital Privado de Rosario, Rosario, Argentina

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Hugo Cheinquer

Hugo Cheinquer

Departamento de Gastroenterología y Hepatología, Universidad Federal do Rio Grande do Sul e do Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre, Porto Alegre, Brazil

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Melina Susana

Melina Susana

Sección Hepatología, Hospital de Clínicas José de San Martín, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina

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Luis Rondeau

Luis Rondeau

Programa Nacional de Trasplante Hepático y Servicio de Hepatología, Hospital Central de Las Fuerzas Armadas, Montevideo, Uruguay

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Gabriel Rifrani

Gabriel Rifrani

Departamento de Gastroenterología, Facultad de Medicina, Hospital Provincial del Centenario, Universidad de Rosario, Rosario, Argentina

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Herman Aguirre

Herman Aguirre

Sección de Gastroenterología, Hospital del Salvador, Santiago, Chile

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Nelia Hernandez

Nelia Hernandez

Unidad Asistencial Gastroenterología, Facultad de Medicina, Hospital de Clínicas, UdelaR, Montevideo, Uruguay

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Carla Enrique

Carla Enrique

Unidad de Hígado y Trasplante Hepático, Hospital Alemán, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina

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Lucia Navarro

Lucia Navarro

Trasplante Hepático, Hospital El Cruce, Florencio Varela, Argentina

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Eugenia Labaronnie

Eugenia Labaronnie

Unidad de Hígado, Hospital Privado de Rosario, Rosario, Argentina

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Patricia M. Zitelli

Patricia M. Zitelli

Divisão de Gastroenterologia e Hepatologia, Hospital das Clínicas da Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

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Alexandre de Araujo

Alexandre de Araujo

Departamento de Gastroenterología y Hepatología, Universidad Federal do Rio Grande do Sul e do Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre, Porto Alegre, Brazil

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Antonella Olivetti

Antonella Olivetti

Sección Hepatología, Hospital de Clínicas José de San Martín, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina

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Daniela Simian

Daniela Simian

Sección de Gastroenterología, Departamento de Medicina, Hospital Clínico de la Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile

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Diego Giunta

Diego Giunta

Sección Hepatología, Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina

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Marcelo Silva

Marcelo Silva

Unidad de Hígado y Trasplante Hepático, Hospital Universitario Austral, Pilar, Argentina

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Sebastián Marciano

Sebastián Marciano

Sección Hepatología, Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina

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First published: 26 May 2025

ABSTRACT

The 2024 WHO guidelines for chronic hepatitis B (CHB) aim to expand and simplify treatment eligibility. We aimed to estimate treatment eligibility and uptake according to country-specific guidelines and evaluate treatment expansion based on the WHO guidelines. Treatment-naïve CHB patients from Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Uruguay referred to evaluation between January 2010 and June 2024 were retrospectively included. Treatment candidacy was evaluated according to both country-specific and WHO guidelines. A total of 719 patients with CHB, treatment naïve, were included (67.1% male; median age: 50.4 years; HBeAg-positive: 36.3%). The median HBV-DNA level was 43,000 (IQR 633–110,000,000) IU/mL, median ALT was 41 (IQR 23–99) U/L, 47.0% had an APRI > 0.5 and 21.1% had cirrhosis. According to country-specific guidelines, 56.9% (95% CI: 53.2–60.5) met the criteria for treatment. Antiviral treatment was initiated in 84.3% of eligible patients. The proportion of patients meeting treatment criteria under the WHO guidelines increased to 67.3% (95% CI: 63.8–70.6), resulting in a 10.4% (95% CI: 8.1–12.8) increase in treatment candidacy. Treatment expansion was significantly higher in women (15.2%; 95% CI: 10.2–20.1) than in men (8.1%; 95% CI: 5.4–10.7). According to WHO guidelines, a considerable proportion of CHB patients who do not meet country-specific criteria are eligible for antiviral therapy. Implementing WHO criteria can enhance treatment rates and advance efforts toward CHB elimination.

Disclosure

ChatGPT was used for grammar and spelling check.

Conflicts of Interest Statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest regarding this study. Outside the submitted work, the authors declare the following potential conflicts of interest: M.M. has served as a speaker for Biosidus, Gador, Gilead Sciences and Knight; and received grants/research support from AstraZeneca, Gador and Roche.

Data Availability Statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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