Hepatitis B virus reactivation with corticosteroid therapy in patients with adrenal insufficiency.

Objective: Whether or not reactivation of hepatitis B virus (HBV) might occur during corticosteroid therapy in hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg)-negative patients with adrenal insufficiency was investigated.

Patients And Methods: We consecutively enrolled 66 patients with adrenal insufficiency undergoing physiological corticosteroid replacement therapy at Saitama Medical University Hospital between June 2013 and June 2014, and 220 patients with rheumatic disease receiving a pharmacologic dose of corticosteroids served as the positive control group. The latter group was separated into 101 patients treated only with corticosteroids, and 119 patients given corticosteroids plus immunosuppressants and/or disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs).