Analysis of hepatitis B virus infection in 1424 patients with different pathological types of lymphoma (2018–2022): A real‐world, retrospective study

Abstract Objective Recent studies have found a high prevalence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in patients with non‐Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL), especially B‐cell non‐Hodgkin's lymphoma (B‐NHL). However, most studies did not classify it and analyze the correlation between HBV and its various subtypes. Methods The authors retrospectively analyzed 1424 patients with lymphoma. Differences in the prevalence of HBV infection in patients with different pathological types of lymphoma were analyzed. The clinical characteristics, progression‐free survival (PFS), and overall survival (OS) of HBV‐positive and negative B‐NHL subtypes were compared according to HBV infection. Results The HBV infection rate in NHL patients was 7.65%, which was higher than that in HL patients (2.59%, p < 0.05). The HBV infection rate in the B‐NHL was higher than that in the T‐cell non‐Hodgkin's lymphoma (T‐NHL) (8.14% vs. 4.95%). The HBV infection rate in the aggressive B‐NHL was similar to that of the indolent B‐NHL (8.30% vs. 7.88%), and the highest HBV infection rates were found in diffuse large B‐cell lymphoma and chronic lymphocytic leukemia/small lymphocytic lymphoma, but no significant differences in clinical characteristics, PFS, and OS were seen between HBV‐positive and negative patients in the two subtypes. Conclusions There was an association between HBV infection and the development of NHL and HBV infection may play a role in the pathogenesis of B‐NHL, but not T‐NHL.