Hepatitis delta infection in Italian patients: towards the end of the story?

Background: The endemicity of hepatitis delta virus infection in Italy has decreased in the last decades.

Aim: To evaluate the current epidemiology of chronic delta infection in Italy and to compare the present findings with the corresponding figures from the previous studies.

Methods: A cross-sectional study involving 16 referral centres scattered all over the country in 2014.

Results: Out of the 513 hepatitis B surface antigen-positive subjects enrolled, 61 (11.9%) were anti-delta positive, with a sex ratio (M/F) of 2.05. The majority (80.3%) of them was 50 years or older, while the proportion of subjects younger than 30 years of age was as low as 3.3%. No difference was detected by geographical area of residence. The presence of liver cirrhosis was diagnosed in 52.4% of cases. In comparison to previous studies, a further shift towards the oldest age groups and an increasing proportion of subjects having liver cirrhosis among all anti-delta-positive subjects are observed.

Conclusions: Currently, hepatitis delta infection mostly affects old people who have an advanced but indolent liver disease, reflecting a survival effect. The defective hepatitis delta virus is near to disappear in the country, where it has been discovered in the second half of 70s.