Long-term follow-up of cumulative incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma in hepatitis B virus patients without antiviral therapy

Table 1 Data regarding the patients’ baseline characteristics

	Chronic hepatitis B patients		Hepatitis B cirrhosis patients
	Observation group (n = 362)	Control group (n = 203)	Observation group (n = 96)	Control group (n = 129)
Sex: Males (%)	291 (80.38)	175 (86.20)a	74 (77.08)	119 (92.24) a
E antigen-positive patients (%)	198 (54.69)	123 (60.59)a	30 (31.25)	32 (24.80)
Age (yr)	33 (25-40)	39 (32-46)a	59.50 (48-67)	48 (41-58)
Median follow-up time	10 (7-14)	8 (6-9)a	7 (5-8)	7 (6-8)
HBV-DNA (log)	7.14 (5.92-7.70)	6.76 (5.63-7.29)	4.77 (4.37-5.53)	4.92 (4.06-5.57)
ALT	188.62 (141.70-296.55)	185.50 (135.01-260.25)	98.73 (75.91-121.73)	110.00 (78.10-202.00)
AST	132.14 (100.00-173.57)	135.00 (110.00-215.00)	53.15 (40.77-122.58)	76.00 (49.00-105.00)
TB	27.00 (21.30-36.50)	28.50 (21.00-41.25)	39.10 (33.00-45.00)	37.00 (18.00-51.00)a
ALB			32.00 (26.00-37.70)	36.00 (33.50-37.00)
PLT			99.50 (58.00-120.00)	107.00 (102.00-119.00)a
Diabetes (%)	39 (10.77)	21 (10.34)	21 (21.87)	26 (20.15)
Hypertension (%)	29 (8.01)	18 (8.86)	23 (23.95)	25 (19.37)
Family history of hepatocellular carcinoma (%)	21 (5.80)	10 (4.97)	19 (19.76)	27 (20.93)
REACH-B score	10 (8-12)	10 (8-12)

^aP < 0.05 compared with the observation group. HBV: Hepatitis B virus; ALT: Alanine aminotransferase; AST: Aspartate aminotransferase; TB: Total bilirubin; ALB: Albumin; PLT: Platelet.

Table 2 Changes in hepatitis B virus-DNA, hepatitis B e antigen, hepatitis B surface antigen and alanine aminotransferase after anti-inflammatory and hepatoprotective treatment and antiviral therapy in patients with chronic hepatitis B and cirrhosis, n (%)

Variable	Chronic hepatitis B		Hepatitis B cirrhosis
	Observation group (n = 362)	Control group (n = 203)	Observation group (n = 96)		Control group (n = 129)
HBV-DNA undetectable	61 (16.85)	179 (87.19)		19 (19.79)	116 (89.92)
HBV-DNA drops no less than 2 log	216 (59.66)	194 (95.56)		57 (59.37)	124 (96.12)
HBeAg negative conversion	65 (32.82)	64 (52.03)		12 (40)	19 (59.37)
HBsAg negative conversion	3 (0.82)	2 (0.55)		1 (1.04)	2 (1.55)
ALT returns to normal	275 (75.96)	191 (94.08)		68 (70.83)	110 (85.27)

Undetectable hepatitis B virus-DNA was defined as hepatitis B virus-DNA < 500 copies/mL; a return of alanine aminotransferase to normal was defined as alanine aminotransferase < 40 mmol/L after treatment. HBV: Hepatitis B virus; ALT: Alanine aminotransferase; HBeAg: Hepatitis B e antigen; HBsAg: Hepatitis B surface antigen.

Table 3 Cox regression analysis of risk factors for hepatocellular carcinoma in patients with chronic hepatitis B who were calibrated with REACH-B

Variable	Rate ratio (95%CI)
	Single factor	Multiple factors
Sex
Female	1.0 (referent)	1.0 (referent)
Male	2.859 (1.835-6.112)a	3.076 (1.975-8.437)a
Age (yr)
≤ 40	1.0 (referent)
> 40	2.677 (1.089-6.579)a
HBeAg
-	1.0 (referent)
+	0.614 (0.288-1.310)
DNA level, IU/L (log)
≤ 3 (1 × 103 IU/L)	1.0 (referent)
3-6.30 (2 × 106 IU/L)	1.130 (0.543-1.602)
> 6.30	2.604 (0.749-3.854)
ALT level, U/L
≤ 50	1.0 (referent)
50-200	1.140 (0.728-6.676)
200-400	3.310 (0.173-11.112)
> 400	4.036 (1.678-7.234)a
AST level, U/L
≤ 40	1.0 (referent)
40-200	0.592 (0.184-1.904)
200-400	1.565 (0.124-2.581)
> 400	8.059 (0.689-11.968)
TB level, U/L
≤ 23	1.0 (referent)
23-46	0.525 (0.211-1.308)
46-115	1.349 (0.078-1.572)
> 115	1.605 (0.125-2.936)
Treatment
Anti-inflammatory	1.0 (referent)
Antiviral	0.701 (0.207-1.313)
Antiviral after anti-inflammatory treatment	0.874 (0.283-1.467)
Diabetes
No	1.0 (referent)
Yes	2.469 (1.079-5.649)a
Hypertension
No	1.0 (referent)
Yes	1.932 (0.650-5.748)
Family history of liver cancer
No	1.0 (referent)	1.0 (referent)
Yes	30.924 (12.709-75.561)a	23.463 (9.372-47.564)a

^aP < 0.05 vs the observation group. HBeAg: Hepatitis B e antigen; ALT: Alanine aminotransferase; AST: Aspartate aminotransferase; TB: Total bilirubin.