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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Pharmacol.
Sec. Pharmacology of Infectious Diseases
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fphar.2025.1572827
This article is part of the Research TopicTherapeutic and Protective Approaches to Gastrointestinal Tract InfectionsView all 4 articles
Relationship Between Nucleos(t)ide Analogue Antiviral Response Time and Prognosis in Chronic Hepatitis B: Conclusions Depend on Baseline Viral Load and HBeAg Status
Provisionally accepted- Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
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Introduction: Current guidelines for changing antiviral therapy regimens do not consider different baseline statuses. This study aimed to investigate whether significant prognostic differences exist among patients achieving virological response at various time points and whether these differences vary by viral load and HBeAg status.Methods: This retrospective cohort study included 1,037 patients, who were classified based on their baseline viral load (high viral load, HVL, ≥ 7log10 IU mL -1 : 522 individuals; or non-HVL, < 7log10 IU mL -1 : 515 individuals) and HBeAg status (positive: 668 individuals; or negative: 369 individuals). Based on the virological response time, patients were grouped separately using 48 weeks and 96 weeks as the boundaries. The prognoses across these groups were evaluated and compared.Results: Patients in the within-48-weeks group, 48-96-weeks group, and after-96-weeks group exhibited no significant difference in the incidence of liver disease progression (5.08% vs. 4.38% vs. 9.61%, p = 0.33). For HVL or HBeAg-positive patients, there was no significant difference in the cumulative incidence of liver disease progression between the within-48-weeks group and the 48-96-weeks group. In contrast, for non-HVL or HBeAg-negative patients, the cumulative incidence of liver disease progression was significantly higher in the after-48-weeks group than in the within-48-weeks group. Only the after-96-weeks group showed a significant increase in maintained virological response rate (p = 0.04).Antiviral treatment should be adjusted at 48 weeks for non-HVL or HBeAgnegative patients. For HVL and HBeAg-positive patients, we suggest changing the antiviral treatment plan to 96 weeks.
Keywords: antiviral agent; chronic hepatitis B, HBV, cumulative incidence, Liver disease, Viral Load
Received: 07 Feb 2025; Accepted: 10 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Hwang, Li, You, Chong and Cao. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Jingtao Hwang, Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
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