Table 4. Baseline demographic data and patient characteristics at the time of being diagnosed with intermediate-stage hepatocellular carcinoma.

	All patients	Starting sorafenib before progressing to advanced stage	Starting sorafenib after progressing to advanced stage	P
Number of patients	105	67	38
Gender [n (%)]
Male	81 (77)	49 (73)	32 (84)	0.233
Female	24 (23)	18 (27)	6 (16)
Age, years [n (%)]
≤72	64 (61)	41 (61)	23 (61)	1.000
>72	41 (39)	26 (39)	15 (39)
HBV [n (%)]
Absent	94 (90)	62 (93)	32 (84)	0.200
Present	11 (10)	5 (7)	6 (16)
HCV [n (%)]
Absent	44 (42)	23 (34)	21 (55)	0.481
Present	61 (58)	44 (66)	17 (45)
Alcohol abuse [n (%)]
Absent	98 (93)	65 (97)	33 (87)	1.000
Present	7 (7)	2 (3)	5 (13)
Child–Pugh [n (%)]
A	96 (91)	61 (91)	35 (92)	1.000
B	9 (9)	6 (9)	3 (8)
Tumor size, >50 mm[n (%)]
Absent	77 (73)	49 (73)	28 (74)	1.000
Present	28 (27)	18 (27)	10 (26)
Tumor Number, >7 [n (%)]
Absent	65 (62)	38 (57)	27 (71)	0.209
Present	40 (38)	29 (43)	11 (29)
Sub-classification of BCLC B [n (%)]
B1	33 (31)	22 (33)	11 (29)	0.509
B2	66 (63)	42 (63)	24 (63)
B3	5 (5)	3 (4)	2 (5)
B4	1 (1)	0 (0)	1 (3)
AFP, ng/mL [n (%)]
≤400	74 (70)	49 (73)	25 (66)	0.506
>400	31 (30)	18 (27)	13 (34)
Initial diagnosis [n (%)]
Early stage	50 (48)	35 (52)	15 (39)	0.229
Intermediate stage	55 (52)	32 (48)	23 (61)
Initial dose of sorafenib, 800 mg/day [n (%)]
Absent	7 (7)	5 (7)	2 (5)	1.000
Present	98 (93)	62 (93)	36 (95)
Effectiveness of initial TACE in intermediate stage[n (%)]
Responder	64 (61)	40 (60)	24 (63)	0836
Non-responder	41 (39)	27 (40)	14 (37)

Abbreviations: HBV, hepatitis B virus; HCV, hepatitis C virus; BCLC, Barcelona clinic liver cancer; AFP, alpha-fetoprotein; TACE, transcatheter arterial chemoembolization