Table I.
Characteristics of the study participants
| Clinical status | Controls, n (%) | Cirrhosis, n (%) | HCC, n (%) |
| Number of subjects | 325 | 78 | 198 |
| Age | |||
| ≤30 | 84 (26) | 20 (25.5) | 23 (12) |
| 31–40 | 62 (19) | 17 (22) | 36 (18) |
| 41–50 | 54 (17) | 21 (27) | 54 (27) |
| ≥51 | 125 (38) | 20 (25.5) | 85 (43) |
| Sex | |||
| Men | 224 (69) | 50 (64) | 160 (81) |
| Women | 101 (31) | 28 (36) | 38 (19) |
| HBsAg | |||
| Positive | 43 (13) | 44 (56) | 106 (54) |
| Negative | 274 (85) | 34 (44) | 88 (44) |
| N/A | 8 (2) | 0 (0) | 4 (2) |
| HBeAga | |||
| Positive | 2 (5) | 14 (32) | 17 (16) |
| Negative | 39 (90) | 27 (61) | 87 (82) |
| N/A | 2 (5) | 3 (7) | 2 (2) |
| Viral loadsa | |||
| > Copies/mlb (n) | 2.5.103 (22) | 9.5.106 (29) | 3.4.105 (76) |
| > <200, n (%) | 21 (49) | 15 (34) | 30 (28) |
N/A: not available.
a
only for HBsAg-positive subjects.
b
Median.