Hepatitis B virus DNA is more powerful than HBeAg in predicting peripheral T-lymphocyte subpopulations in chronic HBV-infected individuals with normal liver function tests

Table 1 Characteristics of chronic HBV-infected individuals with normal liver function tests

Characteristics	All individuals	Maternal HBV-infection status (MH)
	(n = 216)	Individuals with MH (n = 129)	Individuals without MH (n = 87)	P
Sex (male/female)	125/91	75/54	50/37	0.9221
Mean age (yr)	31.53 ± 11.23	29.11 ± 11.44	35.13 ± 9.94	< 0.0012
Age of HBV-infection (yr) (%)				< 0.0011
< 8	80 (37.0)	62 (48.1)	18 (20.7)
8-20	56 (25.9)	36 (27.9)	20 (23.0)
> 20	58 (26.9)	21 (16.3)	37 (42.5)
Unknown	22 (10.2)	10 (7.8)	12 (13.8)
HBV DNA positive (%)	136 (63.0)	106 (82.2)	30 (34.5)	< 0.0011
Serum HBV DNA (copies/mL) (%)				< 0.0011
≤ 1.0 × 103	80 (37.0)	23 (17.8)	57 (65.5)
1.0 × 103-1.0 × 105	14 (6.5)	5 (3.9)	9 (10.3)
1.0 × 105-1.0 × 107	29 (13.4)	17 (13.2)	12 (13.8)
> 1.0 × 107	93 (43.1)	84 (65.1)	9 (10.3)
HBV DNA load (log, copies/mL)	5.90 ± 2.61	7.13 ± 2.36	4.07 ± 1.74	< 0.0012
HBeAg positive (%)	122 (56.5)	97 (75.2)	25 (28.7)	< 0.0011

¹Chi-square test P value;

²Student t test P value; HBV: Hepatitis B virus; MH: Maternal HBV-infection status.