Tenofovir is a more suitable treatment than entecavir for chronic hepatitis B patients carrying naturally occurring rtM204I mutations

Table 4 Baseline characteristics of 403 treatment-naïve patients with chronic hepatitis B

Characteristics	Pre-existing rtM204I n = 17	Wild type rtM204 n = 386	P value
Gender (M/F)	14/3	230/156	0.060
Age (yr)	48.8 ± 9.3	43.7 ± 12.6	0.101
HBeAg (positive/negative)	10/7	228/158	0.984
HBV-DNA (log10 IU/mL)	6.33 ± 0.66	6.06 ± 1.77	0.519
qHBsAg (log 10 IU/mL)	3.43 ± 0.30	3.59 ± 0.70	0.334
AST (IU/L)	104.7 ± 40.9	78.7 ± 65.2	0.103
ALT (IU/L)	77.8 ± 29.4	85.4 ± 84.1	0.709
Total bilirubin (mg/dL)	0.93 ± 0.33	0.88 ± 0.60	0.743
Albumin (g/dL)	4.02 ± 0.43	4.14 ± 0.52	0.338
Prothrombin time (INR)	1.07 ± 0.10	1.02 ± 0.16	0.246
Platelet count (× 103/mm3)	155.7 ± 55.6	181.4 ± 64.4	0.106
FIB-4	4.38 ± 2.33	2.91 ± 2.92	0.041
APRI	1.94 ± 0.98	1.34 ± 1.35	0.068
Significant fibrosis1 (presence/absence)	12/5	145/241	0.006
Liver cirrhosis (presence/absence)	7/10	80 / 306	0.045
HCC (presence/absence)	5/12	46 / 340	0.034

¹Significant fibrosis was defined as aspartate aminotransferase to platelet ratio index > 1.5 or fibrosis-4 index > 3.25. ALT: Alanine aminotransferase; APRI: Aspartate aminotransferase to platelet ratio index; AST: Aspartate aminotransferase; FIB-4: Fibrosis-4 Index; HCC: Hepatocellular carcinoma; INR: International normalized ratio; qHBsAg: Quantitative hepatitis B surface antigen levels; HBV: Hepatitis B virus.