Table 1.
Baseline characteristics of the 2 groups before and after PSM and sIPTW analyses
| Variable | Crude cohort | PSM cohort | Stabilized IPTW cohort | ||||||||||
| Grading | TACE-A (n = 69) | TACE-AP (n = 40) | P value | SMD | TACE-A (n = 28) | TACE-AP (n = 28) | P value | SMD | TACE-A (67.8) | TACE-AP (n = 40.2) | P value | SMD | |
| Sex | Male | 61 (88.4) | 36 (90.0) | 1.000 | 0.051 | 26 (92.9) | 25 (89.3) | 1.000 | 0.125 | 60.3 (88.9) | 36.6 (90.9) | 0.747 | 0.067 |
| Female | 8 (11.6) | 4 (10.0) | 2 (7.1) | 3 (10.7) | 7.5 (11.1) | 3.6 (9.1) | |||||||
| Age | ≤60 | 47 (68.1) | 29 (72.5) | 0.792 | 0.096 | 19 (67.9) | 20 (71.4) | 1.000 | 0.078 | 45.8 (67.6) | 29.0 (72.0) | 0.673 | 0.097 |
| >60 | 22 (31.9) | 11 (27.5) | 9 (32.1) | 8 (28.6) | 22.0 (32.4) | 11.3 (28.0) | |||||||
| Child-Pugh classification | A | 54 (78.3) | 38 (95.0) | 0.041 | 0.507 | 26 (92.9) | 26 (92.9) | 1.000 | <0.001 | 57.0 (84.1) | 32.3 (80.2) | 0.743 | 0.102 |
| B | 15 (21.7) | 2 (5.0) | 2 (7.1) | 2 (7.1) | 10.8 (15.9) | 8.0 (19.8) | |||||||
| PVTT | TypeⅠ | 46 (66.7) | 27 (67.5) | 0.694 | 0.171 | 21 (75.0) | 18 (64.3) | 0.540 | 0.300 | 44.7 (65.9) | 25.3 (62.8) | 0.849 | 0.130 |
| TypeⅡ | 14 (20.3) | 6 (15.0) | 4 (14.3) | 4 (14.3) | 12.7 (18.7) | 9.6 (23.9) | |||||||
| TypeⅢ | 9 (13.0) | 7 (17.5) | 3 (10.7) | 6 (21.4) | 10.4 (15.3) | 5.4 (13.4) | |||||||
| Metastasis | None | 42 (60.9) | 19 (47.5) | 0.248 | 0.271 | 14 (50.0) | 15 (53.6) | 1.000 | 0.072 | 36.6 (54.0) | 21.6 (53.7) | 0.982 | 0.005 |
| Have | 27 (39.1) | 21 (52.5) | 14 (50.0) | 13 (46.4) | 31.2 (46.0) | 18.6 (46.3) | |||||||
| AFP (ng/mL) | <400 | 34 (49.3) | 25 (62.5) | 0.256 | 0.269 | 17 (60.7) | 16 (57.1) | 1.000 | 0.073 | 37.2 (54.9) | 22.3 (55.4) | 0.970 | 0.009 |
| ≥400 | 35 (50.7) | 15 (37.5) | 11 (39.3) | 12 (42.9) | 30.5 (45.1) | 17.9 (44.6) | |||||||
| HBV | None | 24 (34.8) | 16 (40.0) | 0.735 | 0.108 | 11 (39.3) | 11 (39.3) | 1.000 | <0.001 | 25.2 (37.2) | 14.0 (34.9) | 0.836 | 0.049 |
| Have | 45 (65.2) | 24 (60.0) | 17 (60.7) | 17 (60.7) | 42.6 (62.8) | 26.2 (65.1) | |||||||
| ECOG score | 0 | 15 (21.7) | 10 (25.0) | 0.878 | 0.077 | 7 (25.0) | 7 (25.0) | 1.000 | <0.001 | 16.5 (24.4) | 9.0 (22.3) | 0.823 | 0.051 |
| 1 | 54 (78.3) | 30 (75.0) | 21 (75.0) | 21 (75.0) | 51.2 (75.6) | 31.3 (77.7) | |||||||
| TBIL (g/L) | 23.32 (10.11) | 22.96 (9.27) | 0.850 | 0.038 | 22.07 (8.45) | 22.88 (10.14) | 0.747 | 0.087 | 23.01 (9.74) | 24.50 (11.20) | 0.658 | 0.141 | |
| ALB (μmol/L) | 35.91 (5.13) | 37.47 (5.15) | 0.129 | 0.304 | 36.05 (4.94) | 36.83 (5.56) | 0.582 | 0.148 | 36.41 (5.09) | 35.55 (6.36) | 0.584 | 0.151 | |
| ALT (U/L) | 49.90 (82.23) | 36.92 (15.35) | 0.326 | 0.219 | 37.57 (18.61) | 38.79 (16.00) | 0.794 | 0.070 | 44.00 (67.24) | 34.71 (14.91) | 0.202 | 0.191 | |
| Cr (μmol/L) | 56.09 (11.34) | 60.37 (16.21) | 0.109 | 0.306 | 55.64 (9.72) | 56.00 (8.68) | 0.884 | 0.039 | 56.65 (11.17) | 57.96 (12.20) | 0.543 | 0.112 | |
| No. of liver tumors | 1 | 6 (8.7) | 7 (17.5) | 0.393 | 0.263 | 3 (10.7) | 3 (10.7) | 0.850 | 0.153 | 6.3 (9.3) | 3.9 (9.8) | 0.905 | 0.091 |
| 2 | 38 (55.1) | 20 (50.0) | 15 (53.6) | 13 (46.4) | 35.4 (52.3) | 19.2 (47.8) | |||||||
| ≥3 | 25 (36.2) | 13 (32.5) | 10 (35.7) | 12 (42.9) | 26.0 (38.4) | 17.1 (42.4) | |||||||
| Maximum tumor diameter (mm) | 72.31 (37.51) | 73.16 (35.45) | 0.907 | 0.023 | 75.12 (34.33) | 69.46 (33.52) | 0.535 | 0.167 | 71.82 (36.64) | 70.98 (31.36) | 0.898 | 0.024 | |
| No. of TACE | 1.88 (1.11) | 1.90 (1.19) | 0.944 | 0.014 | 1.64 (0.78) | 1.86 (1.27) | 0.450 | 0.204 | 1.84 (1.08) | 1.83 (1.11) | 0.974 | 0.007 | |
ALB, albumin; ALT, alanine aminotransferase; AFP, alpha-fetoprotein; Cr, creatinine; ECOG, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group; HBV, hepatitis B virus; PSM, propensity score matching; PVTT, portal vein tumor thrombus; sIPTW, stabilized inverse probability of treatment weighting; SMD, standardized mean differences; TACE, transarterial chemoembolization; TACE-A, TACE combined with apatinib; TACE-AP, TACE combined with apatinib and PD-1 inhibitors; TBIL, total bilirubin.