Table 2.

Serum levels of myostatin, follistatin, IL-6, and psoas muscle index in the healthy control group and patients with hepatocellular carcinoma

Variable	Healthy control (n=50)	HCC patients (n=238)
		Total (n=238)	Male (n=193)	Female (n=45)
Myostatin (pg/mL)	3,150.8* (1,168.3–8,916.4)	3816.3 (2,612.5–5,395.1)	3979.3 (2,768.7–5,679.8)	2976.3 (1,963.2–3,901.4)
Follistatin (pg/mL)	1,248.4* (473.9–2,637.0)	2131.2 (1,572.3–2,886.1)	2118.5 (1,554.6–2,964.7)	2174.6 (1,697.9–2,760.3)
IL-6 (pg/mL)	0.81† (0.06–5.75)	2.52 (1.40–4.99)	2.50 (1.41–4.86)	2.75 (1.38–5.05)
PMI (cm2/m2)		4.12 (2.98–5.04)	4.43 (3.54–5.31)	2.17 (1.64–2.67)

Values are presented as median (interquartile range).

IL-6, interleukin-6; HCC, hepatocellular carcinoma; PMI, psoas muscle index.

^*P <0.001 vs. patients with HCC.

^†P <0.05 vs. patients with HCC.