Table 1. Association of socioeconomic status with other potential prognostic variables among persons diagnosed with hepatocellular carcinoma, 1990–2009.
| Variable | Income Quintile 1N (%) | Income Quintile 2N (%) | Income Quintile 3N (%) | Income Quintile 4N (%) | Income Quintile 5N (%) | MissingN (%) | p-value* |
| N = 1323 | N = 1196 | N = 1030 | N = 915 | N = 893 | N = 124 | ||
| Age group | |||||||
| 60 or below | 526 (39.7) | 424 (35.4) | 378 (36.7) | 320 (35.0) | 295 (33.0) | 40 (32.3) | |
| 61–70 | 369 (27.9) | 387 (32.4) | 285 (27.7) | 274 (30.0) | 270 (30.2) | 48 (38.7) | |
| 71–80 | 333 (25.2) | 312 (26.1) | 287 (27.9) | 253 (27.6) | 265 (29.7) | 26 (21.0) | |
| 81 or above | 95 (7.2) | 73 (6.1) | 80 (7.7) | 68 (7.4) | 63 (7.1) | 10 (8.0) | 0.0532 |
| Sex (male) | 1020 (77.1) | 931 (77.8) | 809 (78.5) | 722 (78.9) | 713 (79.8) | 84 (67.7) | 0.5988 |
| Rurality | |||||||
| Urban residence | 1215 (91.8) | 1110 (92.8) | 937 (91.0) | 831 (90.8) | 821 (91.9) | 16 (12.9) | |
| Rural residence | 108 (8.2) | 86 (7.2) | 93 (9.0) | 84 (9.2) | 72 (8.1) | 6 (4.8) | |
| Missing | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) | 102 (82.3) | 0.4497 |
| Country of birth | |||||||
| Canada | 423 (32.0) | 388 (32.4) | 343 (33.3) | 306 (33.4) | 325 (36.4) | 60 (48.4) | |
| Outside Canada | 582 (44.0) | 500 (41.8) | 421 (40.9) | 374 (40.9) | 331 (37.1) | 51 (41.1) | |
| Missing | 318 (24.0) | 308 (25.8) | 266 (25.8) | 235 (25.7) | 237 (26.5) | 13 (10.5) | 0.1766 |
| Maximum Charlson Comorbidity score | |||||||
| 0 | 499 (37.7) | 444 (37.1) | 383 (37.2) | 350 (38.2) | 334 (37.4) | 54 (43.5) | |
| 1 | 290 (21.9) | 264 (22.1) | 202 (19.6) | 182 (19.9) | 182 (20.4) | 29 (23.4) | |
| 2 | 165 (12.5) | 128 (10.7) | 130 (12.6) | 123 (13.4) | 114 (12.8) | 15 (12.1) | |
| 3 or more | 141 (10.7) | 110 (9.2) | 98 (9.5) | 72 (7.9) | 80 (9.0) | 9 (7.3) | |
| No hospitalization record | 228 (17.2) | 250 (20.9) | 217 (21.1) | 188 (20.6) | 183 (20.5) | 17 (13.7) | 0.3279 |
| Screening with ultrasound 1 year prior to HCC diagnosis† | 388 (29.3) | 355 (29.7) | 319 (31.0) | 291 (31.8) | 283 (31.7) | 6 (4.8) | 0.6148 |
| HCC treatment‡ | |||||||
| Curative | 335 (25.3) | 365 (30.5) | 336 (32.6) | 294 (32.1) | 288 (32.3) | 19 (15.3) | 0.0003 |
| Non-curative | 184 (13.9) | 203 (17.0) | 185 (18.0) | 160 (17.5) | 147 (16.5) | 11 (8.9) | 0.0637 |
| Palliative | 485 (36.7) | 410 (34.3) | 360 (35.0) | 333 (36.4) | 309 (34.6) | 9 (7.3) | 0.6798 |
| No treatment | 517 (39.1) | 438 (36.6) | 347 (33.8) | 324 (35.4) | 319 (35.7) | 89 (71.8) | 0.0936 |
| Year of HCC diagnosis | |||||||
| 1990–1994 | 156 (11.8) | 146 (12.2) | 111 (10.8) | 94 (10.3) | 104 (11.6) | 105 (84.7) | |
| 1995–1999 | 252 (19.0) | 239 (20.0) | 196 (19.0) | 180 (19.7) | 172 (19.3) | - (3.2) | |
| 2000–2004 | 395 (29.9) | 329 (27.5) | 310 (30.1) | 273 (29.8) | 259 (29.0) | - (3.2) | |
| 2005–2009 | 520 (39.3) | 482 (40.3) | 413 (40.1) | 368 (40.2) | 358 (40.1) | 11 (8.9) | 0.9679 |
Income quintile 1, lowest socioeconomic status; Income quintile 5, highest socioeconomic status.
“-“, counts less than five have been suppressed. *p-values were calculated using chi-squared tests, testing for homogeneity across all income groups, excluding the missing groups. †Patients were not considered as being screened if they had only one ultrasound in the three months prior to diagnosis or if they were receiving HCC care prior to the ultrasound. ‡Included multiple treatments for some people. HCC, hepatocellular carcinoma.