Objective：To investigate the characteristics of peripheral circulating lymphocyte subsets in severe hepatitis patients with chronic HBV infection（SHPCHI）. Methods： The numbers of circulating lymphocyte subsets, including CD3^＋, CD4^＋ and CD8^＋ , NK cells （CD3^- /CD16^＋/CD56^＋ ）, and NKT cells （CD3^＋/CD16^＋ CD56^＋ ）, were determined in SHPCHI （n = 61 ）, patients with chronic hepatitis B （CHB, n = 21 ）, patients with cirrhosis （ LC, n = 26） and healthy volunteers （ n = 10） by flow cytometry. The absolute values of each lymphocyte subset were calculated and statistically analyzed. Results： The absolute numbers of circulating CD3^＋ , CD4^＋ and CD8^＋ T cells were significantly reduced in SHPCHI group compared with those in the other 3 groups （P〈0.01 or P〈0.05）. There was a decreasing trend in the absolute numbers of peripheral CD3^＋ , CD4^＋ , CD8^＋ and NK cells in non-surviving SHPCHI compared with surviving SHPCHI,but the decrease was not statistically significant. Conclusion： SHPCHI has an disorderd cellular immune function, which might be related to the prognosis of SHPCHI.