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

Table 3 Comparison of the time interval to hepatitis B surface antigen seroclearance in each age group with the serum hepatitis B virus DNA titer at entry

	HBV DNA < 201 IU/mL		HBV DNA 20-2000 IU/mL		HBV DNA > 2000 IU/mL
Age group	No.	Years (mean ± SD)	No.	Years (mean ± SD)	No.	Years (mean ± SD)
< 30	2	2.31 ± 1.32	2	5.67 ± 3.51	0	0
30-40	4	6.42 ± 4.82	4	3.72 ± 4.01	3	7.72 ± 3.92
40-50	12	5.73 ± 3.73	14	6.71 ± 3.36	10	8.47 ± 3.11
50-60	12	3.94 ± 2.99	6	8.36 ± 3.43	4	9.47 ± 3.11
> 59	9	5.07 ± 2.85	5	5.95 ± 3.28	3	6.82 ± 4.6
SUM	39	4.92 ± 3.36	31	6.45 ± 3.49	20	8.31 ± 3.26

¹The 20 IU/mL value is the cut-off level for HBV DNA detected by real-time polymerase chain reaction. The time interval to HBsAg seroclearance was very significantly reduced in the HBV DNA < 20 IU/mL group compared with the > 2000 IU/mL group (P = 0.0005). The difference in the time interval to HBsAg seroclearance was slightly significant between the HBV DNA < 20 IU/mL and 20-2000 IU/mL groups and between the HBV DNA > 2000 IU/mL and 20-2000 IU/mL groups (P = 0.0671 and P = 0.0624, respectively).