Table 1. Comparison of clinical characteristics between the ‘control’ and the ‘prophylactic lamivudine’ groups in the HBsAg-positive breast cancer patients.

	Control group		Prophylactic lamivudine group
	N	%	N	%	P-value
No. of patients	76	58	55	42
Age (years) median, range	46 (30–69)		48 (30–68)		0.18
Pre-chemotherapy status
AST (IU l−1) (0–40)a, mean	24		30		0.09
ALT (IU l−1) (0–40)a, mean	25		25		0.25
Total bilirubin (mg dl−1) (0.2–1.5)a, mean	0.5		0.6		0.11
Albumin (g dl−1) (3.5–5.2)a, mean	4.2		4.0		0.06
Chemotherapy regimen
AC	17	22	3	5
FAC	28	37	25	45	0.02
AC → D/T	31	41	27	50
Steroid use for anti-emetics	33	45	28	51	0.48
Stage
1	11	15	9	16
2	39	51	32	58	0.56
3	26	34	14	26
Adjuvant RT	12	16	4	7	0.18

Abbreviations: AC=doxorubicin + cyclophosphamide; AC → D/T=AC followed by docetaxel or paclitaxel; ALT=alanine-aminotransferase; AST=aspartate aminotransferase; FAC=5-FU + doxorubicin + cyclophosphamide; HbsAg=hepatitis B virus surface antigen; RT=radiation therapy.

^aNormal range.