Clinical utility of hepatitis B surface antigen kinetics in treatment-naïve chronic hepatitis B patients during long-term entecavir therapy

Table 5 Univariate and multivariate analyses of factors associated with HBeAg seroconversion in HBeAg-positive patients

Factors	Univariate analysis			Multivariate analysis
	HR	95%CI	P value	HR	95%CI	P value
Sex (female vs male)	0.70	0.29-1.72	0.440	1.02	0.35-2.97	0.970
Age (yr)	0.99	0.95-1.02	0.440	0.98	0.94-1.02	0.310
Cirrhosis (yes vs no)	0.93	0.31-2.75	0.890	0.57	0.15-2.16	0.410
HBV genotype (B vs C)1	0.86	0.35-2.13	0.750	1.49	0.52-4.26	0.450
ALT (× ULN)	1.03	0.96-1.10	0.390	1.05	0.99-1.11	0.120
HBV DNA (≤ 5 vs > 5 log IU/mL)	3.16	0.93-10.76	0.070	4.15	1.05-16.44	0.043
HBsAg (< 4 vs ≥ 4 log IU/mL)	3.05	1.12-8.28	0.029	5.05	1.58-16.14	0.006

¹Only one HBeAg-positive patient had a mixed HBV genotype B and C infection; therefore, a genotype B + C subset was not included in this analysis. ALT: Alanine aminotransferase; CI: Confidence interval; HR: Hazard ratio; HBeAg, hepatitis B e antigen; HBsAg: Hepatitis B surface antigen; HBV: Hepatitis B virus; ULN: Upper limit of normal.