Clinical features of patients with HBeAg-negative chronic hepatitis B and HBV-related cirrhosis

Objective To investigate clinical features of patients with HBeAg-negative chronic hepatitis B(CHB) and HBV-related cirrhosis and to provide evidence for the prevention and treatment protocols.Methods A retrospective study was conducted on 673 inpatients with CHB and HBV-related cirrhosis,who were treated in our department.According to HBeAg status,all the pa-tients were divided into 2 groups,HBeAg-negative group and HBeAg-positive group.Age,duration of disease and virological features were compared between the 2 groups.Results A total of 352 patients(52.3%) were HBeAg negative and 321(47.7%) were HBeAg positive.The mean age in HBeAg-negative group was(51.2±13.0) years old,older than that in HBeAg-positive group [(40.8±14.1) years old] when they were admitted to hospital(P=0.000).The duration of HBsAg positive in HBeAg-negative group was 12.0(0.5,59.0) years,longer than that in HBeAg-positive group [6.0(0.5,48.0) years](P=0.000).The median serum HBV DNA level in HBeAg-neg-ative group was 1.01×10 4(10 3,4.91×10 8) copies/ml,lower than that in HBeAg-positive group [1.30×10 6(10 3,7.11×10 9) copies/ml](P=0.000).The median serum HBsAg levels were 3685(1,9090) U/ml in HBeAg-negative group and 3530(2,10 600) U/ml in HBeAg-positive group,and the difference between them was not significant(P=0.271).About 20.5% of HBeAg-negative patients developed primary liver cancer,and the proporation was higher than that of HBeAg-positive patients(8.7%)(P=0.000).Conclusions Of pa-tients with CHB and HBV-related cirrhosis admitted to our hospital,HBeAg-negative patients account for a substantial proportion.They are much older,have longer duration of disease and lower serum HBV DNA level,and more commonly develop primary liver cancer.