Renal dysfunction has been reported in patients treated with adefovir dipivoxil (ADV); however, its incidence and clinical importance may be underappreciated given the lack of long-term follow-up and data outside of a clinical trial setting. Our goal was to examine the severity and incidence of renal dysfunction in a real-life setting for patients treated with ADV and whose baseline estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) was >50 mL/minute. We performed a cohort study of 290 chronic hepatitis B patients: 145 patients treated with 10 mg ADV and 145 patients unexposed to ADV at two community clinics, who were matched for age (؎10 years), sex, and baseline eGFR. The exposed and unexposed populations were well-matched with a similar mean age (46-47 years), proportion of male patients (76.5%), baseline serum creatinine (0.97-0.99 mg/dL), and baseline creatinine clearance (85.0-85.4 mL/minute). The incidence density for renal dysfunction defined by treatment termination and/or development of eGFR <50 mL/minute was five cases per 100 patient-years in the exposed group compared with 1.36 cases per 100 patient-years in the unexposed group (P ‫؍‬ 0.02). The relative risk of exposed to unexposed was 3.68 (95% confidence interval 1

␣-Fetoprotein (AFP) is frequently used as a diagnostic marker for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

Patients with CHB, high HBV DNA, and NLALT levels and aged more than 35 years or those with FLALT levels may have significant histological disease (22-70%).

Despite consolidation therapy, almost all patients who discontinued therapy after achieving HBeAg seroconversion and complete viral suppression experienced recurrent viremia, and close to half also experienced biochemical flares. HBeAg seroconversion does not seem to be a durable treatment endpoint for many patients, and they should be monitored carefully for virologic relapse and biochemical flares if antiviral therapy is withdrawn.