The cases with
HBeAg-negative
chronic hepatitis B were 241 (57.8%), with an average age of 43.7+/-10.8 and a history of 16.8+/-8.5 years.
HBeAg-positive
chronic hepatitis B cases were 176 (42.2%), with an average age of 36.95+/-11 and a history of 12.3+/-8.0 years.
HBeAg-negative patients were significantly older (P < 0.01) in age and had a longer disease history. ALT levels and the percentage of HBV
DNA were higher than 10(5) copies/ml in
HBeAg-negative patients and were significantly lower than those in the
HBeAg-positive patients [(37.66+/-32.93) U/L vs. (82.09+/-107.57) U/L, 38.2% vs. 94.3%, P < 0.01]. Liver biopsies from 47
HBeAg-negative patients showed that the number of cases with
inflammation scores of G1, G2, G3 and G4 were 5, 27, 14, 1 and the number of cases with
fibrosis scores of S1, S2, S3 and S4 were 10, 12, 5, 20, respectively. In the 36
HBeAg-negative patients the respective number of cases with
inflammation scores of G1, G2, G3 and G4 were 5, 14, 15, 2, and with
fibrosis scores of S1, S2, S3, S4 were 8, 12, 6, 10. Although histopathological
inflammation and
fibrosis scores had no statistical difference between
HBeAg-negative and positive patients (P > 0.05), 53.2% patients of
HBeAg-negative group and 44.5% patients of
HBeAg-positive group had a
fibrosis score of >or= S3.
CONCLUSION: