Introduction: The correlation between the Hepatitis B virus (HBV) viral load and liver fibrosis is still researched. Objective: This study aimed to investigate the correlation of viral parameters and the different levels and stages of liver disease in treatment-naïve patients with chronic HBV. Methodology: A total of 128 treatmentnaïve chronic HBV patients who underwent liver biopsy were assessed in this retrospective and cross-sectional study. Simultaneously with biopsy, HBsAg (S/Co) was measured with HBeAg (S/Co) chemiluminescent immune assay (Abbott Diagnostics, Germany) and HBV viral load was measured with PCR (Bosphore HBV Quantification Kit v2, Turkey) test. The assessments of liver fibrosis were based on the ISHAK staging system. Results: Out of 128 patients who were included in the study and whose ages ranged from 18 to 73, 100 (78%) were male. A negative but significant correlation was found between HBsAg S/Co and HBV-DNA viral load levels in HBeAg negative and positive patients (r= -0.277, p= 0.01 and r= -0.475, p= 0.001 respectively). Sensitivity, specificity and the area under the curve (AUC) were 51.8%, 57.8% and 0.551 respectively at the viral load value of 5.1 (log) IU/ml for the prediction of fibrosis score ≥ 2. Sensitivity, specificity and AUC were 72.7%, 41.9% and 0.545 respectively at the viral load value of 6.1 (log) IU/ml for the prediction of fibrosis score ≥ 4. Conclusion: Different HBV-DNA levels in treatment-naïve patients with chronic HBV can have effects on the formation of fibrosis in liver tissues and predict the severity of fibrosis. When the indirect serum biomarkers and serum HBV-DNA levels are used together in chronic HBV they may be more helpful in predicting of fibrosis

Keywords : Chronic hepatitis B, viral load, liver fibrosis, liver inflammation