The researchers followed 31 patients with histologically diagnosed chronic active hepatitis, clinically, biochemically and histologically, for an average of 32.5 months. Nineteen of these patients were intravenous drug users. The study found that 18 patients showed histological improvement, and 14 of these had hepatitis B virus (HBV) associated disease. Thirteen patients were unchanged or worse, and five of these had HBV-associated disease.

The authors claimed that the results suggested that HBV-associated chronic active hepatitis was a less severe disease than non-HBV-associated disease, with a better prognosis.