Traditional Chinese Medicine Syndrome Patterns and Their Association with Hepatitis B Surface Antigen Levels during the Natural History of Chronic Hepatitis B Virus Infection

Table 3

Patient characteristics based on the six phases in the natural history of CHB.

Phase	ITP,; n = 70	ICP,; n = 50	LRP,; n = 72	RAP,; n = 33	HC,; n = 19	PLC,; n = 45	P
Sex, M/F	36/34	42/8	54/18	29/4	17/2	38/7	< 0.001
Age in yr	27; (21-61)	34; (31-37)	38; (35-40)	41; (37-45)	48; (41-56)	54; (45-57)	< 0.001
ALT, U/L	38; (33-40)	183; (80-236)	24; (22-28)	175; (88-261)	53; (42-64)	55; (43-67)	< 0.001
AST, U/L	27; (25-28)	121; (89-152)	25; (24-27)	97; (61-133)	82; (52-111)	91; (65-116)	< 0.001
HBV DNA, log10 IU/mL	7.99; (7.89-8.21)	6.77; (6.57-7.22)	2.00; (2.00-2.00)	5.61; (5.09-5.68)	4.42; (2.66-5.48)	3.42; (3.00-4.01)	< 0.001
HBsAg, log10 IU/mL	4.51; (4.41-4.60)	3.93; (3.71-4.15)	3.71; (3.57-3.81)	3.86; (3.83-3.88)	3.81; (3.68-3.85)	3.83; (3.80-3.86)	< 0.001

Age is listed as median and min.-max. ALT, AST, HBV DNA, and HBsAg are expressed as the median and 10%-90% confidence interval. ALT: alanine aminotransferase; CHB: chronic hepatitis B virus infection; HBV DNA: hepatitis B virus DNA; HBsAg: hepatitis B surface antigen; HC: hepatic cirrhosis; ICP: immune clearance phase; ITP: immune tolerance phase; LRP: low or nonreplication phase; PLC: primary liver cancer; RAP: reactive phase.