Table 1.

Clinical characteristics of the patients enrolled in the study

Group	HC	CHB
Case	9	65
Sex (male/female)	6/3	45/20
Age (years)	7·7 (3–15)	8·6 (1–18)
ALT (U/l)	12·4 (8–19)	129·5 (49–732)
HBV DNA (IU/ml)	n.d.	1·78 × 108 (5·05 × 105–1·37 × 109)

Data are shown as median and range. ALT: alanine aminotransferase; CHB: chronic hepatitis B; HC: healthy control; n.d.: not determined.