Jian Wang1, Weihua Wu1, Xiaomin Yan1, Jie Wei2, Kefang Yao2, Yue Yang1, Yali Xiong1, Juan Xia1, Yong Liu3, Yuxin Chen3, Bei Jia1, Zhaoping Zhang1, Weimao Ding4, Rui Huang1, Chao Wu1. 1. Department of Infectious Diseases. 2. Department of Infectious Diseases, Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, Clinical College of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing. 3. Department of Laboratory Medicine, Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, The Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University Medical School. 4. Department of Hepatology, Huai'an No. 4 People's Hospital, Huai'an, Jiangsu, China.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Serum hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) status is associated with the progression of chronic hepatitis B (CHB). The authors aimed to investigate the relationship between HBeAg status and liver pathology in CHB patients. METHODS: A total of 683 treatment-naive CHB patients who had undergone liver biopsy were retrospectively enrolled from 2 medical centers. Propensity score-matching (PSM) method was performed to adjust the imbalance of baseline confounders between HBeAg-positive and HBeAg-negative CHB patients. RESULTS: HBeAg-negative CHB patients (n=338) exhibited more advanced liver fibrosis than HBeAg-positive CHB patients (n=345) before PSM (P<0.001). However, there were no significant differences in the distribution of inflammation grades between HBeAg-positive and HBeAg-negative CHB patients (P=0.051). Of these 683 CHB patients, 123 patients were included in each group after PSM. HBeAg-negative CHB patients still showed significantly advanced liver fibrosis as compared with HBeAg-positive CHB patients (P=0.03) after PSM. Furthermore, the distribution of liver inflammation grades in the HBeAg-negative CHB patients was also more severe than patients with HBeAg-positive (P=0.037). HBeAg-negative status was identified as an independent risk factor of significant liver fibrosis (P=0.011) by multivariate analysis. CONCLUSIONS: HBeAg negativity is associated with more advanced liver fibrosis in CHB patients.
BACKGROUND: Serum hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) status is associated with the progression of chronic hepatitis B (CHB). The authors aimed to investigate the relationship between HBeAg status and liver pathology in CHBpatients. METHODS: A total of 683 treatment-naive CHBpatients who had undergone liver biopsy were retrospectively enrolled from 2 medical centers. Propensity score-matching (PSM) method was performed to adjust the imbalance of baseline confounders between HBeAg-positive and HBeAg-negative CHBpatients. RESULTS: HBeAg-negative CHBpatients (n=338) exhibited more advanced liver fibrosis than HBeAg-positive CHBpatients (n=345) before PSM (P<0.001). However, there were no significant differences in the distribution of inflammation grades between HBeAg-positive and HBeAg-negative CHBpatients (P=0.051). Of these 683 CHBpatients, 123 patients were included in each group after PSM. HBeAg-negative CHBpatients still showed significantly advanced liver fibrosis as compared with HBeAg-positive CHBpatients (P=0.03) after PSM. Furthermore, the distribution of liver inflammation grades in the HBeAg-negative CHBpatients was also more severe than patients with HBeAg-positive (P=0.037). HBeAg-negative status was identified as an independent risk factor of significant liver fibrosis (P=0.011) by multivariate analysis. CONCLUSIONS: HBeAg negativity is associated with more advanced liver fibrosis in CHBpatients.