Serum hepatitis B virus RNA is a predictor of HBeAg seroconversion and virological response with entecavir treatment in chronic hepatitis B patients

Table 3 Baseline characteristics of enrolled patients (group A vs group B)

Characteristic	(A) HBeAg positive patients with seroconversion (n = 10)	(B) HBeAg positive patients with no seroconversion (n = 15)	P value (A) vs (B)	(C) HBeAg negative patients (n = 5)	P value (A) vs (C)
Gender (male/female)	8/2	12/3		5/0
Age (yR)	37 ± 6	33 ± 12	0.034	40 ± 150	0.505
Body mass index	25.29 ± 3.86	23.82 ± 3.25	0.528	24.38 ± 3.87	0.676
Alanine aminotransferase (IU/mL)
Week 0	156.10 ± 72.94	174.53 ± 317.58	0.272	123.60 ± 71.81	0.428
Week 24	46.10 ± 32.61	50.00 ± 46.83	0.665	29.20 ± 8.17	0.282
HBsAg (log10 IU/mL)
Week 0	3.81 ± 0.84	4.14 ± 0.57	0.068	3.79 ± 1.02	0.967
Week 24	3.51 ± 0.59	3.94 ± 0.59	0.658	3.29 ± 0.32	0.474
HBV DNA (log10 IU/mL)
Week 0	8.05 ± 0.99	8.57 ± 0.76	0.498	6.11 ± 1.64	0.013
Week 24	3.32 ± 1.11	3.68 ± 1.15	0.635	3.03 ± 0.44	0.279
HBV RNA (log10 copies/mL)
Week 0	3.52 ± 0.84	5.59 ± 0.67	0.061	4.08 ± 0.99	0.27
Week 24	3.06 ± 1.39	5.48 ± 1.51	0.032	2.93 ± 1.39	0.161
HBV genotype
B (%)	3 (30.00%)	2 (13.33%)		1 (20%)
C (%)	7 (70.00%)	13 (86.67%)		4 (80%)

HBV: Hepatitis B virus.