Table 1.

Patients’ categories and phases in natural history of chronic hepatitis B virus infection defined by European Association for the Study of the Liver guidelines 2017[11]

	HBeAg positive	HBeAg negative	HBsAg negative
HBV infection (normal ALT)	High HBsAg	Low HBsAg	HBcAb-positive with/without positive HBsAb
	HBV DNA > 107 IU/mL	HBV DNA < 2000 IU/mL	HBV DNA usually undetectable
	None/minimal liver disease	No liver disease	No liver disease
	Old terminology: Immune-tolerant	Old terminology: Inactive carrier/immune control	Old terminology: Occult HBV infection
Hepatitis B (abnormal ALT)	High or intermediate HBsAg	Intermediate HBsAg
	HBV DNA 104-107 IU/mL	HBV DNA > 2000 IU/mL
	Moderate to severe liver disease	Moderate to severe liver disease
	Old terminology: immune-active	Old terminology: immune escape

HBV: Hepatitis B virus; ALT: Alanine aminotransferase levels; HBeAg: Hepatitis B e antigen; HBsAg: Hepatitis B s antigen; DNA: Deoxyribonucleic acid; HBcAb: Hepatitis B c antibodies.