Vitamin E treatment for children with chronic hepatitis B: A randomized placebo controlled trial

Table 2 Characteristics of 18 children with chronic hepatitis B who responded to therapy with either vitamin E or placebo. Response defined as anti-HBe seroconversion, loss of HBeAg and HBV-DNA < 400 copies/mL

	Vitamin E	Placebo
Total	16	2
Sex (%)
Female	10 (62.5)	2 (100)
Male	6 (37.5)	0
Age (yr)	12.4	14.2
Alanine transaminase level (%)
Normal	8 (50)	2 (100)
Elevated	8 (50)	0
HBV-DNA (%)
< 1000 pg/mL	12 (75)	1 (50)
> 1000 pg/mL	4 (25)	1 (50)
Route of transmission (%)
Parenteral	1 (6.3)	0
Vertical	8 (50)	0
Unknown	7 (43.7)	2 (50)
Interferon alpha pretreatment (%)	2 (11)	0
Lamivudine pretreatment (%)	0	1 (50)
Dosage (%)
200 IU Vitamin E	0
400 IU Vitamin E	4 (25)
600 IU Vitamin E	12 (75)
HBeAg seroconversion after initiation of treatment
6 mo	6	0
12 mo	7	1
18 mo	3	1