Clinical characteristics of and factors related to relapse in chronic hepatitis B patients after nucleoside analogues withdrawal

• Published in: Zhonghua gan zang bing za zhi Vol. 21; no. 11; p. 825
• Main Authors: Chen, Li, Li, Xiao-lou, Gan, Qiao-rong, Zhang, Dong-qing, Lin, Rong-sheng, Lin, Ming-hua
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Chinese
• Published: China 01.11.2013
• Subjects: Adult; Antiviral Agents - therapeutic use; DNA, Viral - blood; Female; Hepatitis B e Antigens - blood; Hepatitis B, Chronic - drug therapy; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Nucleosides - therapeutic use; Recurrence; Retrospective Studies; Treatment Outcome
• ISSN: 1007-3418
• DOI: 10.3760/cma.j.issn.1007-3418.2013.11.007

To investigate the clinical characteristics of and factors related to relapse in chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients who had previously achieved cessation criteria and had been withdrawn from nucleoside analogues treatment. Sixty CHB patients who experienced relapse after nucleoside analogues withdrawal based on cessation criteria were enrolled in the study retrospectively. Each patient's data on biochemical, serological and viral characteristics corresponding to baseline (treatment initiation), withdrawal and relapse were collected. COX proportional hazard modeling was used to evaluate the factors related to relapse. The hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg)-positive and -negative patients had similar median antiviral treatment times (38 months (range: 24 - 80) vs. 35 months (30 - 60); Z = -1.313, P more than 0.05). For all patients, the median follow-up time was 12 months (2 - 72), during which 49 (81.7%) patients developed virological breakthrough and 17 (28.3%) developed HBeAg recurrence. The patients who experien