Tenofovir and entecavir appear to be equally effective in reducing risk of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and all-cause mortality in people with hepatitis B over five years, a ‘real-world’ study suggests.

In the longest follow-up to date, more than 3000 patients with hepatitis B attending the Catholic University of Korea’s liver clinics were included in a retrospective analysis, with 1439 on tenofovir and 1583 taking entecavir.

No statistically significant difference was found between five-year cumulative incidence rates for HCC, with 5.6% of patients in the tenofovir group and 5.5% of the entecavir group being diagnosed.

A further analysis in which 1370 of the patients taking tenofovir were closely matched with the same number of people on entecavir in terms of liver pathology, aminotransferase platelet ratio index and many other variables gave a similar result (5.3% vs 4.8%).