The present study was performed in the Jinan Infectious
Disease Hospital, the only hospital in the Jinan area
which is in charge of the diagnosis and treatment of the
35 notifiable infectious diseases of China. This study is
part of a hospital-based prospective investigation to study
the natural history of acute HBV infection that was conducted
in the hospital,in which all inpatients with confirmed
AHB between January 2006 and December 2010
were included and followed. The study was approved by
the hospital ethics committee, and written informed consent
for participation was obtained from each study participant
or their next of kins.