For long-term outcomes, is the impact of cirrhosis more important than HBsAg seroclearance?

We read with great interest the article “Risk of hepatic decompensation but not hepatocellular carcinoma decreases over time in patients with hepatitis B surface antigen loss” by Yip et al. in Journal of Hepatology.1 As expected, a much lower incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) accumulation in hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) clearance patients was observed than that in inactive carriers through pairing the participants by age and gender. The authors confirmed that older age, male gender, history of liver cirrhosis and low platelets were the independent risk factors for HCC.