• 86 • Taiwanese Journal of Psychiatry (Taipei) Vol. 25 No. 2 2011 Original Article Background: Valproic acids are frequently used in patients with bipolar dis- orders or other psychiatric disorders. Safety issues have been concerned to pre- scribe valproic acid in patients with hepatic dysfunction due to its possible adverse effects of hepatotoxicity. Methods: We evaluated the values of SGOT and SGPT in 623 psychiatric inpatients who had hepatitis B infection and valproic acid through the computer database of a psychiatric hospital. Results: Psychiatric pa- tients of hepatitis B carriers treated by valproic acid did not have higher levels of liver function compared to those who were not treated by valproic acid. Conclu- sion: The results of this study suggest that valproic acid use in psychiatric patients with hepatitis B infection is safe in terms of liver function. Retrospective Evaluation of Liver Function in Psychiatric Patients with Hepatitis B Viral Infection Lien-Chung Wei, M.D. 1 , Chih-Chiang Chiu, M.D. 2 , Hung-Yu Chan, M.D., Ph.D. 1 , Sun-Yuan Chou, M.D. 1 , Happy Kuy-Lok Tan, M.D., M.P.H., M.H.S. 1 , Chiung-Hsu Chen, M.D. 1 1 Department of General Psychiatry, Taoyuan Mental Hospital, Department of Health, Taiwan, 2 Department of Psychiatry, Taipei City Psychiatric Center, Taipei, Taiwan Received: December 31, 2010; revised: March 25, 2011; accepted: April 13, 2011 Address corresponding to: Dr. Chiung-Hsu Chen, Taoyuan Mental Hospital, Department of Health, No.71, Longshou Street, Taoyuan County 33058, Taiwan Introduction Valproic acid is widely used to treat various psychiatric illnesses and is well-tolerated gener- ally. One patient with hepatitis B has been report- ed to have increased value of transaminases and clinical signs of hepatopathy shortly after valproic acid treatment in a case series [1]. Hepatitis B virus infection has been demon- strated to play an important role in the develop- ment of chronic hepatitis, liver cirrhosis and hepa- toma. Taiwan is a hyperendemic area of liver diseases and the prevalence of seropositive of HBV in Taiwan is 17.3% [2]. Over 20% of people with HBV are coinfected with HCV in Taiwan [3, 4]. The prevalence of HBs-Ag rate is 18.1% in in- stitutionalized psychiatric patients, and the preva- lence of HBs-Ag in these patients is similar to that in the general population of Taiwan [5]. In addi- tion, institutionalized psychotic patients are a high-risk group for hepatitis B virus infection [6]. To evaluate the safety of valproic acid use is im- portant in the population with HBV infection at psychiatric hospital in Taiwan. The aim of the study was to investigate the hepatoxicity of val- Key words: liver function, valproic acid, hepatitis B infection (Taiwanese Journal of Psychiatry [Taipei] 2011; 25: 86-90)