Association between chronic hepatitis B virus infection and diabetes among Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders

BACKGROUND: Asians have a higher prevalence of both diabetes (diabetes mellitus) and chronic hepatitis B virus infection compared to Caucasians. The aim of this study was to investigate whether hepatitis B virus infection was associated with diabetes mellitus among Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. METHODS: We reviewed the electronic medical records of 411 Asian and 424 Pacific Islanders seen at our medical centre over a 5-year period. Diabetes mellitus was defined by the presence of two or more random blood glucose levels > or =200mg/dL, an ICD-9 diagnostic code of diabetes mellitus, or use of medications for diabetes mellitus. Hepatitis B virus infection was defined by a positive HBsAg test. RESULTS: Diabetes mellitus was diagnosed in 223 of the 835 subjects (26.7%), whereas hepatitis B virus infection was diagnosed in 56 (13.8%) of the 407 subjects tested for HBsAg. Overall, the prevalence of diabetes mellitus was significantly higher in patients with hepatitis B virus than in those without hepatitis B virus (58.9% vs. 33.3%, P<0.001), and this remained significant after adjustment for potential confounding variables (OR=3.17; 95% CI, 1.58-6.35). When Asians and Pacific Islanders were analysed separately, the prevalence of diabetes mellitus in patients with hepatitis B virus was significantly higher than in those without hepatitis B virus among Asians (65.0% vs. 27.5%, P<0.001) but not in Pacific Islanders (43.8% vs. 37.1%, P=0.60). Among the 390 subjects who were tested for both hepatitis B virus and hepatitis C virus, the prevalence of diabetes mellitus was 29.4% in uninfected subjects, 44.4% in patients with hepatitis B virus monoinfection, 47.2% in patients with hepatitis C virus monoinfection and 85.0% in patients with hepatitis B virus and hepatitis C virus coinfection (P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Hepatitis B virus infection is strongly associated with diabetes mellitus among Asian Americans, but not in Pacific Islanders, whereas hepatitis C virus infection was associated with diabetes mellitus in both ethnic groups.