Demographic and clinical characteristics of study population
| HBeAg positive (n=163) | HBeAg negative (n=150) | Z*/χ2 † | P value | |
| Gender (male:female) | 99:64 | 91:59 | 0.011† | 0.9178 |
| Age (years; M, IQR) | 31 (28–37) | 42 (35–50) | 8.600 | <0.0001 |
| ALT (U/L; M, IQR) | 69 (42–156.75) | 35.5 (18–107) | 4.115 | <0.0001 |
| Serum HBsAg (log10 IU/mL; M, IQR) | 4.117 (3.691–4.635) | 3.296 (2.745–3.702) | 10.417 | <0.0001 |
| Serum anti-HBc (log10 IU/mL; M, IQR) | 3.526 (3.211–3.819) | 4.225 (3.680–4.642) | 8.520 | <0.0001 |
| Serum HBcrAg (log10 IU/mL; M, IQR) | 8.200 (7.700–8.500) | 4.1500 (3.000–5.800) | 13.779 | <0.0001 |
| Serum HBV DNA (log10 IU/mL; M, IQR) | 7.314 (6.469–7.903) | 3.588 (2.699–5.681) | 12.668 | <0.0001 |
| HBsAg IHC (0:1:2:3) | 3:36:59:65 | 10:65:52:23 | 32.098† | <0.0001 |
| HBcAg IHC (0:1:2:3) | 58:47:48:10 | 121:26:3:0 | 77.514† | <0.0001 |
| HBV DNA-ISH positive area (%; M, IQR) | 7.949 (4.365–15.733) | 1.556 (0.687–3.685) | 10.030 | <0.0001 |
| HBV DNA-ISH score (0:1:2:3:4) | 2:14:33:52:61 | 13:50:57:24:6 | 89.853† | <0.0001 |
| Grade (1:2:3:4) | 95:57:11:0 | 115:21:14:0 | 18.372† | 0.0001 |
| Stage (1:2:3:4) | 71:60:11:21 | 90:30:9:21 | 11.923† | 0.0077 |
*Mann-Whitney U test.
†Pearson χ2 test.
HBcrAg, HBV core related antigen; ISH, in situ hybridisation; M, median.