[Comparison of clinical features from patients with chronic hepatitis B between HBeAg negative and positive].

OBJECTIVE: To analyze different clinical features from patients with chronic hepatitis B between HBeAg negative and positive. METHODS: 354 patients with chronic hepatitis B (124 cases with HBeAg positive and 230 cases with HBeAg negative) were enrolled into this retrospective investigation. Comparisons were conducted according to their demographic, liver biochemical, virological characters and clinical diagnosis types. RESULTS: (1) patients with chronic hepatitis B in HBeAg negative group have older age; moderate and severe chronic hepatitis occupied a lower proportion (P = 0.007 and 0.014). But fulminant hepatitis had a higher proportion (P = 0.008). (2) ALT, ALB, PTA and HBV DNA load of HBeAg negative group were lower than that of HBeAg positive group, but TBil in HBeAg negative group was higher; AST had no statistical significance between two groups. (3) In high HBV DNA load group ( > 10(5) copies/ml), HBeAg negative group had a lower proportion than HBeAg positive group (37.4% vs 55.6%, P = 0.001). CONCLUSION: HBeAg-negative patients compared with HBeAg-positive patients had older age, lower serum HBV DNA level and other characteristics; HBeAg-negative patients maybe had serious disease.