Peginterferon is preferable to entecavir for prevention of unfavourable events in patients with HBeAg‐positive chronic hepatitis B: A five‐year observational cohort study

At present, the long-term effects of pegylated interferon-α (PEG-IFN-α) and entecavir (ETV) are controversial. Studies directly compared the long-term outcomes of these two drugs have not been completed. This study was designed to compare the clinical outcomes of PEG-IFN-α vs ETV therapy in Chinese patients with chronic HBV infection. From September 2008 to December 2016, a large, observational, open-label, prospective cohort study of HBeAg-positive patients with CHB who received PEG-IFN-α or ETV therapy was carried out at the Second Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University. Cumulative incidences of unfavourable events were calculated with respect to treatment type. Based on the REACH-B model, we compared the observed incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with the expected incidence in each group. PEG-IFN-α-treated patients showed a lower cumulative incidences of unfavourable events and cirrhosis than those treated with ETV (P = .031; P = .044, respectively). Impact factor exploration indicated that treatment type and platelet count are significantly associated with the occurrence of unfavourable events. Based on the REACH-B model, a lower observed cumulative incidence of HCC was observed in PEG-IFN-α-treated patients than predicted (P = .038). However, there was no significant difference of the cumulative HCC incidence between the observed and the predicted cases for ETV-experienced patients (P = .36). Treatment with PEG-INF-α leads to a lower incidence of unfavourable events including cirrhosis and HCC than ETV in patients with HBV. Treatment type and baseline platelet count may be two important factors associated with the long-term clinical outcomes of patients with CHB.