Abstract: Objective To understand the economic burden for the patients with hepatitis B virus infection in Beijing and to provide health economic evidence for hepatitis B (HB) control. Methods A community-based household survey combined with a hospital-based sampling investigation was used to collect the annual cost of the patients with acute HB, HBsAg carrier, chronic HB, cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Results A total of 1587 HBV infection-related cases were enrolled, including 89 acute HB, 274 HB carrier, 973 chronic HB, 139 cirrhosis, and 112 HCC. The average annual total cost in 2009 was: acute HB, ￥22941.68；HBV carrier, ￥1007.90; chronic HB, ￥11777.28; cirrhosis, ￥54473.94 and HCC, ￥128309.35. The average annual total cost for cirrhosis and HCC patients was 2.03 and 4.80 times higher than annual per capita income, respectively. One-third of patients with chronic HB have never been treated with antivirals. Conclusion HBV related infection has brought great economic burden to the patients, especially cirrhosis and HCC. Anti-viral treatment rate in chronic HB patients should be improved in the future.

Key words: Hepatitis B, Disease burden, Direct cost, Indirect cost