Association between hepatitis B virus markers and liver fibrosis staging in patients with chronic hepatitis B

Table 1 Inter-group comparison of baseline characteristics, mean ± SD/n (%)

Baseline characteristics	Mild group (n = 52)	Moderate-to-severe group (n = 68)	χ2/t	P value
Age (years old)	45.35 ± 9.19	47.06 ± 10.49	0.884	0.379
Sex			0.067	0.796
Male	28 (53.85)	35 (51.47)
Female	24 (46.15)	33 (48.53)
BMI (kg/m2)	23.73 ± 2.32	23.59 ± 2.36	0.324	0.746
WBC (× 109/L)	5.02 ± 0.87	4.85 ± 0.87	1.061	0.291
Hb (g/L)	109.69 ± 7.75	112.0 ± 11.88	1.217	0.226
AFP (μg/L)	5.71 ± 1.30	6.06 ± 1.90	1.139	0.257

BMI: Body mass index; WBC: White blood cell count; Hb: Hemoglobin; AFP: Alpha-fetoprotein.

Table 2 Correlation among hepatitis B core antibody, hepatitis B virus-DNA, and hepatitis B surface antigen

Marker pair	r	P value
HBcAb vs HBV-DNA	-0.329	< 0.001
HBcAb vs HBsAg	-0.319	< 0.001
HBV-DNA vs HBsAg	0.387	< 0.001

HBcAb: Hepatitis B core antibody; HBV-DNA: Hepatitis B virus DNA; HBsAg: Hepatitis B surface antigen.

Table 3 Correlation of hepatitis B core antibody, hepatitis B virus-DNA, and hepatitis B surface antigen with liver fibrosis staging

Correlation	Liver fibrosis staging
	r	P value
HBcAb	0.369	< 0.001
HBV-DNA	-0.512	< 0.001
HBsAg	-0.278	0.002

HBcAb: Hepatitis B core antibody; HBV-DNA: Hepatitis B virus DNA; HBsAg: Hepatitis B surface antigen.

Table 4 Receiver operating characteristic analysis results for hepatitis B core antibody, hepatitis B virus-DNA, and hepatitis B surface antigen in diagnosing liver fibrosis staging

ROC analysis	AUC	95%CI	SE	Sensitivity (%)	Specificity (%)	P value
HBcAb	0.715	0.623-0.807	0.047	69.12	69.23	< 0.001
HBV-DNA	0.799	0.719-0.878	0.041	67.65	76.92	< 0.001
HBsAg	0.662	0.562-0.762	0.051	85.29	44.23	< 0.001
Combined prediction	0.851	0.779-0.923	0.037	85.29	73.08	< 0.001

ROC: Receiver operating characteristic; AUC: Area under the curve; CI: Confidence interval; HBcAb: Hepatitis B core antibody; HBV-DNA: Hepatitis B virus DNA; HBsAg: Hepatitis B surface antigen.

Table 5 Receiver operating characteristic evaluation of hepatitis B core antibody, hepatitis B virus-DNA, and hepatitis B surface antigen in diagnosing liver fibrosis stages

Factor	B	SE	Wald	P value	OR	95%CI
HBcAb	1.017	0.446	5.197	0.023	2.765	1.153-6.630
HBV-DNA	-1.400	0.457	9.373	0.002	0.247	0.101-0.604
HBsAg	-0.931	0.489	3.624	0.057	0.394	0.151-1.028

HBcAb: Hepatitis B core antibody; HBV-DNA: Hepatitis B virus DNA; HBsAg: Hepatitis B surface antigen; OR: Odds ratio; CI: Confidence interval.