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Background & Aims Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is an important cause of cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma worldwide; populations that migrate to the US and Canada might be disproportionately affected. The Hepatitis B Research Network (HBRN) is a cooperative network of investigators from the United States and Canada, created to facilitate clinical, therapeutic, and translational research in adults and children with hepatitis B. We describe the structure of the network and baseline characteristics of adults with hepatitis B enrolled in the network. Methods The HBRN collected data on clinical characteristics of 1625 adults with chronic HBV infection who are not receiving antiviral therapy from 21 clinical centers in North America. Results Half of the subjects in the HBRN are male, and the mean age is 42 years; 72% are Asian, 15% are Black, and 11% are White, with 82% born outside of North America. The most common HBV genotype was B (39%); 745 of subjects were negative for the hepatitis B e antigen. The median serum level of HBV DNA when the study began was 3.6 log10 IU/mL; 68% of male subjects and 67% of female subjects had levels of alanine aminotransferase above the normal range. Conclusions The HBRN cohort will be used to address important clinical and therapeutic questions for North Americans infected with chronic HBV and to guide health policies on HBV prevention and management in North America.

HCV can be effectively treated in the correctional setting with response rates similar to, if not better than the published literature. In this controlled setting of direct observational therapy, we observed similar SVR in CA and AA.