Table 1 Inclusion and exclusion criteria for the selection of randomized controlled trials

Inclusion criteria

• Adult patients (≥ 18 years of age) diagnosed with HBeAg-positive and/or HBeAg-negative chronic hepatitis B infection

• Treatment of interest: adefovir (ADV), entecavir (ETV), lamivudine (LAM), pegylated interferon (PEG-IFN), telbivudine (TBV), tenofovir alafenamide (TAF) , tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF); as monotherapy or as combination therapy

• Comparators: treatment of interest versus placebo (PLA) or Treatment of interest versus different Treatment of interest

• Outcomes (Efficacy):

 1. Virologic response (VR)

 2. Alanine aminotransferase normalization (ALT norm)

 3. HBeAg loss

 4. HBeAg seroconversion

 5. HBsAg loss

• Study design: published, randomized, controlled interventional studies

Exclusion criteria

• Studies that did not meet the aforementioned selection criteria, uncontrolled non-randomized studies, qualitative studies, observational studies, duplicate publications, conference abstracts, narrative reviews, and editorials were excluded

• Studies not conducted in English

• Studies on special populations: coinfections with HIV or other forms of hepatitis, decompensated cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma, liver transplantation, and pregnancy

• Treatment duration shorter than 48 weeks (except for Interferon therapy)

• Treatment experienced population > 50%