[The impact of HBeAg positivity/negativity and HBV DNA loads on the prognosis of chronic severe hepatitis B].

OBJECTIVE

To explore the impact of HBeAg positivity/negativity and HBV DNA loads on the prognosis of chronic severe hepatitis B.

METHODS

206 patients with chronic severe hepatitis B hospitalized in Beijing Ditan Hospital from July 2002 to Dec. 2004 were analyzed. HBeAg positivity/negativity, HBV DNA loads and other factors relating to the prognosis of the patients were studied with univariate and multivariate analyses.

RESULTS

Chi2 univariate analysis showed that there was no significant difference in the prognosis between different HBeAg groups (chi2 = 0.440, OR = 0.777, 95% CI 0.424-1.425, P = 0.50). But there was a significant difference in the prognosis between different HBV DNA load groups: the prognosis of patients with lower HBV DNA loads was better than those with higher loads (chi2 = 9.806, OR = 3.055, 95% CI 1.554-6.007, P = 0.002), and the improving rates of the two groups were 53.1% and 27.0% respectively. Using multivariate logistic regression analysis, 9 screened factors showed great impact on the prognosis of chronic severe hepatitis B. Cirrhosis, hepatorenal syndrome, hepatic encephalopathy, PTA < 20%, TBil > 513 mmol/L, Alb < 30 g/L, CHO < 1.6 mmol/L, PLT < 5 x 10(9)/L, and higher HBV DNA loads (HBV DNA > 3 x 10(4) copies/ml in HBeAg negative patients and > 1 x 10(5) copies/ml in HBeAg positive patients) were shown to be associated with a poor prognosis. Coefficients of regression of the above factors were 1.539, 21.356, 1.398, 1.650, 2.440, 2.266, 1.738, 2.631 and 2.656 respectively. The coefficients of regression of HBV DNA loads were: B = 2.656, Wald = 7.768, P = 0.005, EXP(B) = 14.235, and 95.0% CI for EXP(B) = 2.199-92.133.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results indicate that the HBV DNA loads were one of the most important factors influencing the prognosis of the chronic severe hepatitis B patients, the importance is only next to hepatorenal syndrome and over grade II hepatic encephalopathy. HBeAg positivity/negativity has no influence on the prognosis, but HBV DNA loads are important; the lower the viral loads, the better the prognosis.