Elevated expression of serum soluble ST2 in clinical relapse after stopping long-term Nucleos(t)ide analogue therapy for chronic hepatitis B

Table 3 Cox proportional hazards regression analysis of clinical relapse

	Clinical Relapse (n = 41)
	Univariable			Multivariable^a
	HR	95% CI	P	HR	95% CI	P
End of treatment
Age	1.069	1.025–1.114	0.002	1.062	1.016–1.110	0.007
Age > 35 y	2.647	1.324–5.291	0.006
Sex	1.44	0.662–3.133	0.358
First-line NA therapy ^b	1.233	0.667–2.281	0.504
Consolidation duration	0.996	0.980–1.011	0.596
Consolidation duration 3 > y	0.777	0.401–1.508	0.456
ALT × ULN	0.861	0.331–2.241	0.759
HBsAg log₁₀ IU/ml	1.1725	1.177–2.529	0.005	2.086	1.286–3.385	0.003
HBsAg >200IUmL (vs ≤ 200IUmL)	3.697	1.447–9.444	0.006
HBV DNA level elevation log₁₀ IU/ml	1.000	1.000–1.000	0.030	1.000	1.000–1.000	0.045
HBV DNA level elevation > 20000 IU/ml (vs ≤ 20000 IU/ml)	2.531	1.179–5.435	0.017
sST2 log₁₀ pg/mL	2.816	0.731–10.845	0.132
sST2 > 3.7 log₁₀ pg/mL(vs ≤ 3.7 log₁₀ pg/mL)	1.718	0.841–3.508	0.137
12 W sST2 log₁₀ pg/mL	4.655	2.345–9.243	< 0.001	4.403	2.169–8.937	< 0.001
Start of treatment
HBeAg	0.726	0.384–1.375	0.326
ALT × ULN	0.986	0.935–1.019	0.403
HBV DNA log₁₀ IU/ml	0.745	0.792–1.385	0.745

Abbreviations: ALT Alanine aminotransferase, CI Confidence interval, HBeAg Hepatitis B virus envelope antigen, HBsAg Hepatitis B virus surface antigen, HBV Hepatitis B virus, HR Hazard ratio, NA Nucleos(t)ide analogue, ULN Upper limit of normal
^aAdjusted for start-of-treatment HBeAg status and factors that were statistically different between HBeAg-positive and HBeAg-negative patients (age and consolidation therapy duration)
^bEntecavir

ISSN: 1471-2334