Descriptive baseline characteristics of NUC/pegIFN-α-treated patients and NUC-treated patients
| Variables | NUC/pegIFN-α-treated patients baseline* (n=29) | NUC-treated patients baseline* (n=24) | P value |
| Sex (male) | 22 (76%) | 19 (79%) | 1.000 |
| Age (years) | 57 (29–70) | 58 (43–70) | 0.368 |
| Duration of NA therapy (years) | 5 (2–9) | 5 (3–13) | 0.950 |
| NA therapy | |||
| Tenofovir | 19 (66%) | 13 (54%) | |
| Entecavir | 9 (31%) | 10 (42%) | 0.323 |
| Tenofovir and entecavir | 1 (3%) | – | |
| Lamivudine | – | 1 (4%) | |
| Baseline elastography (kPa) | 5.4 (3.3–9.2)† | 5 (3.1–9.6)‡ | 0.515 |
| Fibrosis stage | |||
| F0–F1 | 17 (77%) | 17 (89%) | |
| F1–F2 | 3 (14%) | 1 (5%) | 0.558 |
| F2–F3 | 2 (9%) | 1 (5%) | |
| HBV genotype | |||
| A | – | 2 (8%) | |
| D | 20 (69%) | 15 (63%) | 0.195 |
| n.a. | 9 (31%) | 7 (29%) | |
| AST (IU/L) | 23 (12–33) | 23 (15–74) | 0.979 |
| ALT (IU/L) | 19 (12–44) | 20 (3–39) | 0.380 |
| HBV-DNA <20 IU/mL | 29 (100%) | 24 (100%) | – |
| Serum virological markers | |||
| HBsAg (IU/mL) | 740 (105–5887) | 1375.3 (143–8721) | 0.033 |
| ≤1000 | 19 (66%) | 10 (42%) | 0.102 |
| ≤100 | – | – | |
| HBcrAg (logU/mL) | 2.5 (<2.5–5.6) | 2.5 (<2.5–4.3)† | 0.830 |
| ≥3 | 12 (41%) | 9 (41%) | 1.000 |
| <3 | 17 (59%) | 13 (59%) |
Categorical and quantitative data are expressed as n (%) and median (minimum–maximum), respectively.
The p values were obtained from non-parametric test comparisons between the two groups: Mann-Whitney test for continuous data, Fisher’s exact test, Χ2 test or likelihood ratio Χ2 test for categorical data.
*Baseline refers to pegIFN-α add-on.
†Data available for 22 patients.
‡Data available for 19 patients.
ALT, alanine transaminase; AST, aspartate transaminase; HBcrAg, hepatitis B core‐related antigen; HBsAg, hepatitis B surface antigen; NA, nucleos(t)ide analogue; n.a., not applicable; NUC, nucleos(t)ide; pegIFN-α, pegylated interferon-alpha.