Chronic hepatitis B in children with or without malignancies: A 13-year follow-up

Table 1 Main characteristics of the patients with chronic hepatitis B in both groups n (%)

	Groups
	Group 1, n = 24	Group 2, n = 25
Gender
Female	9 (37.5)	11 (44.0)
Male	15 (62.5)	14 (56.0)
mean age at diagnosis (yr, mean ± SD)	10.89 ± 2.67	9.11 ± 3.69
Solid tumour	5 (20.8)
Leukemia/lymphoma	19 (79.1)
Diagnosis time after chemotherapy	2.00 ± 1.92
Number of transfusions (mean ± SD)	19.19 ± 17.44
Route of transmission
HBsAg(+) mother	0	5 (20)
History of dental extraction	0	3 (12)
Family contact	0	5 (20)
Unknown	24	12 (48)

Group 1: Patients cured of malignancy with chronic hepatitis B (CHB); Group 2: Children diagnosed CHB without malignancy.

Table 2 Initial laboratory and liver biopsy findings of the patients in both groups

	Group 1, n = 24	Group 2, n = 25	P value
HBeAg (+)	24/24	25/25
HBsAg (+)	24/24	25/25
1HBV DNA > 105 copies/mL	24/24	25/25
1ALT N	9	8	0.350
ULNX2	11	10
ULNX3	4	7
2Alpha fetoprotein	2.35 ± 1.84 (1.84)	1.66 ± 0.54 (1.60)	0.053
Albumin	4.27 ± 0.22	4.22 ± 0.32	0.654
INR	1.08 ± 0.07	1.07 ± 0.07	0.894
2Hepatitis activation index (mean ± SD)	5.41 ± 2.94 (5.00)	5.91 ± 2.52 (5.00)	0.644
2Fibrosis (mean ± SD)	1.38 ± 1.15	1.04 ± 0.64	0.441
Treated patients (INF-α and LAM)	15	17

¹χ² test;

²Mann Whitney U test. HBeAg: Hepatitis B e antigen; HBsAg: Hepatitis B surface antigen; HBV: Hepatitis-B virus; ALT: Aminotransferase.

Table 3 Seroconversions to anti hepatitis B e and anti-hepatitis B surface in both groups n (%)

Seroconversions	Groups		P value
	Group 1	Group 2
Treatment induced1
HBeAg to HBeAb	1 (6.6)	9 (53)	0.006
Treatment induced
HBsAg to HBsAb	0	0
Total HBeAg to HBeAb1			0.002
(treatment induced and spontan seroconversion)	3 (12.5)	15 (60)
Total HBsAg to HBsAb1			1.000
(treatment induced and spontan seroconversion)	1 (4.1)	1 (4)

¹Fisher’s Exact test. HBeAg: Hepatitis B e antigen.

Table 4 Evaluation of hepatitis B e antigen/anti- hepatitis B e seroconversion with Kaplan-Meier analysis n (%)

	n	HBeAg(-)antiHBe(+)	HBeAg(+)/anti-HBe(-)	Seroconversion annual Rate
Group 1	24	3 (12.5)	21 (87.5)	1.61%
Group 2	25	15 (60.0)	10 (40.0)	16.66%
Total	49	18 (36.7)	31 (63.3)	8.33%

Kaplan-Meier analysis. HBeAg: Hepatitis B e antigen.