Peripheral T-lymphocyte subpopulations in different clinical stages of chronic HBV infection correlate with HBV load

Table 2 Characteristics of chronic HBV infection patients at the immune-tolerant and immune-active stages (mean ± SD), n (%)

Characteristics	Immune-tolerant stage (n = 112)			Immune-active stage (n = 222)
	HBV DNA (< 1.0 × 107 copies/mL) (n = 28)	HBV DNA (> 1.0 × 107 copies/mL) (n = 84)	P	HBV DNA (< 1.0 × 107 copies/mL) (n = 127)	HBV DNA (> 1.0 × 107 copies/mL) (n = 95)	P
Sex (Male/female)	13/15	54/30	> 0.051	87/40	69/26	> 0.051
Mean age (yr)	30.80 ± 10.20	30.61 ± 10.90	> 0.052	31.17 ± 9.82	27.71 ± 8.18	< 0.012
Patients with MH	16 (57.1)	77 (91.7)	< 0.0011	48 (37.8)	67 (70.5)	< 0.0011
Age at HBV-infection (yr)			> 0.051			< 0.0011
< 8	14 (50.0)	48 (54.8)		34 (26.8)	58 (61.0)
8-20	10 (35.7)	23 (31.2)		54 (42.5)	26 (27.4)
> 20	2 (7.1)	7 (7.5)		38 (29.9)	8 (8.4)
Unknown	2 (7.1)	6 (6.5)		1 (0.8)	3 (3.2)
Serum ALT (IU/L)	25.32 ± 12.6	29.54 ± 11.28	> 0.052	111.36 ± 86.5	211.33 ± 173.20	< 0.0012
Serum AST (IU/L)	24.54 ± 16.33	24.59 ± 18.31	> 0.052	79.08 ± 60.87	151.84 ± 136.65	< 0.0012
Serum total bilirubin (&mgr;mol /mL)	12.55 ± 6.28	11.83 ± 8.59	> 0.052	17.68 ± 8.28	23.80 ± 17.97	< 0.0012
HBV DNA positive	28 (100)	84 (100)	> 0.051	70 (55.1)	95 (100)	< 0.0011
HBV DNA (Log, copies/mL)	5.62 ± 0.81	8.63 ± 0.82	< 0.0012	4.31 ± 1.36	8.13 ± 0.74	< 0.0012
HBeAg positive	28 (100.0)	84 (100.0)	> 0.051	30 (23.6)	66 (69.5)	< 0.0011
HBV pre-C region mutation positive	1 (3.6)	36 (42.9)	< 0.0011	29 (22.8)	42 (44.2)	< 0.011

¹χ² test;

²t-test.