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

Table 4 Univariate and multivariate analyses of factors associated with HBeAg seroclearance in HBeAg-positive patients

Factors	Univariate analysis			Multivariate analysis
	HR	95%CI	P value	HR	95%CI	P value
Sex (female vs male)	0.74	0.36-1.54	0.43	1.14	0.49-2.67	0.76
Age (yr)	1.00	0.98-1.03	0.81	0.99	0.95-1.02	0.42
Cirrhosis (yes no)	1.42	0.64-3.15	0.39	0.71	0.24-2.07	0.53
HBV genotype (B vs C)1	1.17	0.57-2.39	0.67	2.04	0.90-4.62	0.09
ALT (× ULN)	1.02	0.96-1.09	0.51	1.04	0.98-1.09	0.17
HBV DNA (≤ 5 vs > 5 log IU/mL)	2.10	0.64-6.93	0.22	3.40	0.83-13.87	0.09
HBsAg (< 4 vs ≥ 4 log IU/mL)	3.32	1.49-7.43	0.003	5.74	2.19-15.00	< 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.