Clinical utility of hepatitis B surface antigen kinetics in treatment-naïve chronic hepatitis B patients during long-term entecavir therapy

Table 2 Univariate and multivariate analyses of factors associated with virological response in HBeAg-positive patients

Factors	Univariate analysis			Multivariate analysis
	HR	95%CI	P value	HR	95%CI	P value
Sex (female vs male)	1.31	0.73-2.36	0.37	2.95	1.33-6.57	0.008
Age (yr)	1.00	0.98-1.02	0.90	0.99	0.96-1.01	0.390
Cirrhosis (yes vs no)	0.91	0.42-1.96	0.81	0.94	0.32-2.79	0.910
HBV genotype (B vs C)1	1.14	0.62-2.09	0.67	2.04	0.99-4.21	0.053
ALT (× ULN)	1.02	0.98-1.06	0.25	1.04	1.00-1.08	0.060
HBV DNA (≤ 5 vs > 5 log IU/mL)	2.72	0.96-7.68	0.06	1.78	0.46-6.90	0.400
HBsAg (< 4 vs ≥ 4 log IU/mL)	1.96	1.08-3.55	0.03	4.92	2.10-11.51	< 0.001

¹Only one HBeAg-positive patient had a mixed HBV genotype B and C infection; therefore, a genotype B + C subset was not included in this analysis. ALT: Alanine aminotransferase; CI: Confidence interval; HR: Hazard ratio; HBeAg: Hepatitis B e antigen; HBsAg: Hepatitis B surface antigen; HBV: Hepatitis B virus; ULN: Upper limit of normal.