Prevalence and clinical significance of HBeAg-positive chronic hepatitis B patients with and without anti-HBe antibody

The clinical significance of the coexistence of hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) and antibodies against HBeAg (anti-HBe) in patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) remains unclear. This study investigated the clinical features and phase transition of patients with coexisting HBeAg/anti-HBe. A total of 840 treatment-naïve HBeAg-positive CHB patients from two medical centres were included. Cox regression analysis was used to analyze factors associated with HBeAg clearance and seroconversion. Eighty-six patients (10.2%) had coexisting HBeAg/anti-HBe. Patients with anti-HBe were older (39.0 vs. 34.0 years, p=0.016) and had a higher FIB-4 values (1.5 vs. 1.0, pppppp