International Journal of Virology and Parasitology, Vol. 12 (1), pp. 001-006, January, 2023. © International Scholars Journals
Full Length Research Paper
Comparison of the efficacy of entecavir and lamivudine in the treatment of chronic hepatitis B: A meta-analysis
An-Nuo Liu1, Li-Zhou Zhang2#, Jun Cheng 2, Tian-Chen Zhang3, Fa-Ming Pan3, Zhen-Hua Zhang2* and Xu Li2*
1School of Nursing, Anhui Medical University, 81 Meishan Road, Hefei, 230032, China.
2Department of Infectious Diseases, the First Affiliated Hospital, Anhui Medical University, 218 Jixi Road, Hefei, 230022, China.
3Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Anhui Medical University, 81 Meishan Road, Hefei, 230032, China.
Accepted 17 November, 2022
Abstract
Some researches demonstrate that entecavir increases the incidence of virological and biochemical responses compared to lamivudine, although, they have shown inconsistent response rates. A meta-analysis was conducted to compare the efficacy of entecavir and lamivudine for chronic hepatitis B treatment. Two independent researchers identified pertinent clinical controlled trials. Our analysis includes nine case-control studies, which had 1251 entecavir groups and 1188 lamivudine groups. Analyses were performed with STATA version 9.0. Rates of virology and biochemical responses and HBeAg clearance and seroconversion were used as primary efficacy measures. Greater virological and biochemical responses rates were observed with entecavir to lamivudine after treatment of 48 weeks (odds ratio (OR) = 3.422, 95% confidence intervals (CI) = 2.349 - 4.985, P = 0.000; OR = 2.173, 95% CI = 1.462 - 3.230, P = 0.000, respectively), but no statistically significant differences were observed between cases and controls for clearance and seroconversion of HBeAg (P > 0.05). Safety and adverse-event profiles were similar in the two groups. In conclusion, this meta-analysis suggested that entecavir increases the incidence of virological and biochemical responses compared with lamivudine after treatment for 48 weeks.
Key words: Chronic hepatitis B, entecavir, lamivudine, treatment, meta-analysis.