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 2 Peripheral T-cell subsets in normal control and CHI individuals broken down by various factors (mean ± SD)

Groups	n	CD3+ (%)	CD4+ (%)	CD8+ (%)	CD4+/CD8+ ratio
HBV status1
Negative	100	71.07 ± 4.76	38.94 ± 3.39	24.02 ± 4.35	1.67 ± 0.33
Positive	216	57.35 ± 13.81	32.97 ± 7.00	33.08 ± 7.99	1.07 ± 0.41
Maternal HBV-infection status1
Negative	87	64.67 ± 10.74	35.75 ± 6.08	28.71 ± 5.56	1.29 ± 0.35
Positive	129	52.42 ± 13.49	31.10 ± 6.98	36.03 ± 8.04	0.93 ± 0.38
Age at HBV-infection (yr)
< 8	80	66.35 ± 8.19	30.78 ± 7.03	35.36 ± 7.12	0.91 ± 0.30
8-20	56	66.46 ± 9.33	31.65 ± 5.06	35.80 ± 7.79	0.93 ± 0.28
> 20	58	69.35 ± 9.85	36.37 ± 7.31df	28.22 ± 7.11dh	1.37 ± 0.46dh
Unknown	22	69.35 ± 9.85	35.35 ± 6.62a	30.69 ± 7.48bf	1.24 ± 0.46af
HBV DNA load (copies/mL)2
≤ 1.0 × 103	80	65.84 ± 9.39	37.11 ± 6.29	28.12 ± 5.65	1.38 ± 0.40
1.0 × 103-1.0 × 105	14	65.36 ± 5.15	34.70 ± 2.79	28.66 ± 6.21	1.28 ± 0.38
1.0 × 105-1.0 × 107	29	66.20 ± 9.99	33.66 ± 6.39	32.40 ± 6.54	1.06 ± 0.24
> 1.0 × 107	93	46.09 ± 10.52	28.94 ± 5.95	38.23 ± 7.21	0.79 ± 0.22
HBeAg status1
Negative	94	64.45 ± 10.44	35.81 ± 6.69	29.05 ± 6.43	1.30 ± 0.42
Positive	122	51.89 ± 13.63	30.78 ± 6.46	36.19 ± 7.69	0.89 ± 0.31

¹P < 0.001 for all comparisons of +ve vs -ve for each measure and each T-cell parameter;

²P < 0.01 for ANOVA linear trend test;

^aP < 0.05,

^bP < 0.01,

^dP < 0.001 vs < 8 yr group;

^fP < 0.01,

^hP < 0.001 vs 8-20 yr group.