# Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on routine surveillance for adults with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in the UK

## TL;DR

The study found that routine monitoring of chronic hepatitis B patients in the UK dropped significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic.

## Contribution

The study quantifies the impact of the pandemic on HBV surveillance using real-world health data from NHS Trusts.

## Key findings

- There was a significant reduction in the proportion of patients with at least one biomarker measurement annually during the pandemic.
- The mean number of biomarker measurements per patient also decreased during the pandemic compared to pre-pandemic years.

## Abstract

Background:To determine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the population with chronic Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection under hospital follow-up in the UK, we quantified the coverage and frequency of measurements of biomarkers used for routine surveillance (alanine transferase [ALT] and HBV viral load).

Methods: We used anonymized electronic health record data from the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Informatics Collaborative (HIC) pipeline representing five UK National Health Service (NHS) Trusts.

Results: We report significant reductions in surveillance of both biomarkers during the pandemic compared to pre-COVID-19 years, both in terms of the proportion of patients who had ≥1 measurement annually, and the mean number of measurements per patient.

Conclusions: These results demonstrate the real-time utility of HIC data in monitoring health-care provision, and support interventions to provide catch-up services to minimise the impact of the pandemic. Further investigation is required to determine whether these disruptions will be associated with increased rates of adverse chronic HBV outcomes.