Comment on “Hepatitis B Surface Antigen Loss in Chronic Hepatitis B Patients With Low‐Viral‐Load”

I am writing to draw attention to a potential error in the abstract and conclusion of the article titled “Hepatitis B surface antigen loss in chronic hepatitis B patients with low viral load,” authored by Jang et al. and published in the Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology (2024) [1]. While the article provides valuable insights into the predictors of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) loss in chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients with low viral loads, there appears to be a discrepancy between the findings reported in the main text and the conclusion presented in the abstract. Specifically, the abstract states that “older age and prior nucleos(t)ide analogue (NA) therapy were positively associated with HBsAg loss, whereas current NA therapy was negatively associated with HBsAg loss.” However, upon reviewing the article, the results presented in the main text suggest the opposite: Younger age (under 60 years) is positively associated with HBsAg loss, whereas older age (over 60 years) is negatively associated with the likelihood of HBsAg loss. In addition, prior use of nucleos(t)ide analogues (NAs) is indeed positively associated with HBsAg loss, consistent with the abstract, while current NA therapy appears to be negatively correlated with HBsAg clearance, as accurately reported in the body of the study. This study was supported by the Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital. The author declares no conflicts of interest. Research data are not shared.