http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26143444

hepatitis b
Chan HL, Elkhashab M, Trinh H, Tak WY, Ma X, Chuang WL, Kim YJ, Martins EB, Lin L, Dinh P, Charuworn P, Foster GR, Marcellin P. Association of baseline vitamin D levels with clinical parameters and treatment outcomes in chronic hepatitis B. J Hepatol. 2015 Nov; 63(5):1086-92.

Abstract

BACKGROUND & AIMS:
The relationship between vitamin D levels and chronic hepatitis B (CHB) infection and treatment outcomes are poorly elucidated. We measured pre-treatment serum vitamin D (25-hydroxyvitamin D3; 25[OH]D3) levels and determined their association with clinical parameters and treatment outcomes in active CHB patients without advanced liver disease enrolled in a global clinical trial.

METHODS:
Patients were randomly assigned to either 48weeks of tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF) plus peginterferon alfa-2a (PegIFN), TDF plus PegIFN for 16weeks followed by TDF for 32weeks, PegIFN for 48weeks, or TDF for 120weeks. Univariate and multivariate analyses were conducted to determine associations between vitamin D, baseline factors, and week 48 clinical outcome.

RESULTS:
Of 737 patients, 35% had insufficient (⩾20 but <31ng/ml) and 58% had deficient (<20ng/ml) vitamin D levels. In univariate analysis, lower vitamin D levels were significantly associated with the following baseline parameters: younger age, lower uric acid levels, HBeAg-positive status, lower calcium levels, blood draw in winter or autumn, and HBV genotype D. On multivariate analysis, only HBV genotype, season of blood draw, calcium level, and age retained their association. High baseline level of vitamin D was associated with low HBV DNA, normal ALT and HBsAg at week 48 independent of treatment groups, but the association, with the exception of ALT, became statistically insignificant after adjusting for age, gender, HBeAg and HBV genotype.

CONCLUSIONS:
Abnormally low vitamin D levels are highly prevalent among untreated, active CHB patients. Baseline vitamin D levels are not associated with treatment outcomes, but were associated with normal ALT.