Clinical features of HBsAg seroclearance in hepatitis B virus carriers in South Korea: A retrospective longitudinal study

Table 2 Comparison of the time interval to hepatitis B surface antigen seroclearance between carriers with and without hepatitis B e antigen at entry

	HBeAg-positive		HBeAg-negative
Age group	n (%)	Years (mean ± SD)	n (%)	Years (mean ± SD)
< 30	1 (25)	8.15	3 (75)	2.6 ± 1.06
30-40	4 (36.4)	5.87 ± 4.9	7 (63.6)	5.75 ± 4.21
40-50	6 (16.7)	9.24 ± 2.84	30 (83.3)	6.4 ± 3.46
50-60	2 (9.1)	9.22 ± 1.71	20 (90.9)	5.84 ± 3.93
> 59	3 (17.6)	3.38 ± 1.81	14 (82.4)	6.12 ± 3.2
Total	16 (17.8)	7.23 ± 3.71	74 (82.2)	5.98 ± 3.2

Overall, the time interval of HBsAg seroclearance did not differ between the two groups (P = 0.982). However, when limited to the 40s and 50s age groups, the time interval to HBsAg seroclearance was significantly longer in the HBeAg-positive group than in the HBeAg-negative group (P = 0.013), but it did not significantly differ in the other age groups. In the 60s age group, the time interval to HBsAg seroclearance did not differ between the HBeAg-positive and negative groups (P = 0.1208).