Table 3. Univariate and multivariate analysis of prognostic factors in ICC patients using the Cox’s proportional hazards model in Validation cohort (n=82).

Variables	Category	N	Univariate analysis; overall survival			Multivariate analysis; overall survival
			HR	95% CI	P	HR	95% CI	P
Gender	Male	52	1.327	0.649–2.712	0.438	/	/	/
	Female	30
Age (years)	≤60	48	1.084	0.537–2.188	0.822	/	/	/
	>60	34
Tumor size	≤5	44	2.098	1.068–4.125	0.032	/	/	/
	>5	38
Tumor number	Single	70	1.172	0.486–2.826	0.724	/	/	/
	Multiple	12
Vascular invasion	Present	15	1.352	0.589–3.104	0.478	/	/	/
	Absent	67
Perineural invasion	Present	13	2.085	0.893–4.871	0.09	/	/	/
	Absent	69
Differentiationa	Poor	4	1.319	0.707–2.461	0.384	/	/	/
	Moderate	28
	Well	50
Lymph node metastasis	Present	16	1.654	0.746–3.668	0.216	/	/	/
	Absent	66
Cirrhosis	Present	24	0.593	0.269–1.310	0.197	/	/	/
	Absent	58
TNMb	1	59	2.269	1.085–4.746	0.03	/	/	/
	2	23
CRP (mg/l)	≤4.1	53	2.64	1.35–5.14	0.004	2.55	1.29–5.03	0.007
	>4.1	29
CA19-9c (ng/ml)	≤300	62	2.59	1.22–5.50	0.014	2.63	1.24–5.59	0.012
	>300	19

Abbreviations: CRP, C-reactive protein; CA19-9,carbohydrate antigen 19-9; HbsAg, hepatitis B surface antigen; ICC, intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma; NLR, neutrophil–lymphocyte ratio; TNM, tumor node metastasis.

^aTumor differentiation was determined according to the British Society of Gastroenterology guidelines on the management of cholangiocarcinoma.

^bTNM: American Joint Committee on Cancer 7th edition staging for intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma.

^cMissing data: n=1 (due to missing NLR value in validation cohort, n=1).