The first-line treatment agents for chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) include entecavir (ETV) and tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF). Researchers herein investigated HCC incidence among treatment-naïve patients receiving TDF vs ETV in the United States.

• A total of 166,933 adults were identified with a diagnosis of chronic hepatitis B and a minimum of 12 months of prior enrolment from a large administrative medical claims database of commercially insured patients; 3,934 of these patients initiated ETV and 6,127 initiated TDF.

• HCC developed in 90 patients during the follow-up period, including 50 receiving ETV and 40 receiving TDF, giving rise to crude incidence rates of 0.62 per 100 person-years (PY) and 0.30 per 100 PY respectively.

• Overall findings suggest significantly lower risk of HCC development in correlation with receiving treatment with TDF vs ETV among commercially insured, treatment-naïve patients with chronic hepatitis B in the United States.