Dynamic changes of HBsAg and hepatitis B virus DNA in chronic hepatitis B patients with entecavir monotherapy for 5 years

Abstract

Objective To investigate the dynamic changes of serum HBsAg and hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA in chronic hepatitis B patients (CHB) with entecavir (ETV) monotherapy for 5 years. Methods A retrospective analysis was performed for the clinical data of 918 CHB patients who attended the Second Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University from January 2012 to August 2020 and received ETV monotherapy for ≥5 years, among whom 556 had positive HBeAg and 362 had negative HBeAg at initial treatment. Serum HBsAg level and HBV DNA load at baseline and at 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 years of treatment were collected to analyze their dynamic changes. The t-test was used for comparison of normally distributed continuous data between two groups, and the Mann-Whitney U test was used for comparison of non-normally distributed continuous data between two groups; log10 logarithmic transformation was performed for non-normally distributed repeated measurement data, and then a repeated-measures analysis of variance was used for comparison between groups or within each group; the chi-square test was used for comparison of categorical data between two groups. Results Both HBeAg-positive and HBeAg-negative patients had a significant reduction in HBsAg level over the time of ETV treatment (F=174.168 and 49.845, both P Conclusion During the EVT treatment of CHB, the levels of HBsAg and HBV DNA gradually decrease, and the level of HBsAg shows a trend of rapid reduction followed by slow reduction. After 5 years of ETV monotherapy, 67.3% of the patients can achieve an HBsAg level of