Di Bisceglie AM, et al. - Researchers examined a large cohort of adults and children enrolled in Cohort Studies of the Hepatitis B Research Network, long-term natural history studies of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in order to determine the factors associated with Hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) positivity. Criteria for this analysis were met by 2241 participants; of these, 825 (37%) were seropositive for HBeAg. Outcomes revealed a lower prevalence of HBeAg in correlation to older age, ranging from 85% among those up to 10 years of age to only 12% among those older than 50 years. In addition, HBeAg positivity was observed in independent correlation to both race and HBV genotype. Between age and race, a significant interaction was observed; Asians > 10-30 years old had significantly higher prevalence of HBeAg vs Whites or Blacks who were >10 to 30 years old and those infected with HBV genotype C. Conversely, significantly lower prevalence of HBeAg was observed in correlation to the presence of the basal core promoter and precore variants, even when adjusted for age, race and genotype.