Table 1.
Baseline characteristics of the study population
| Variable | Overall (n=1,451) | Patients without recurrence up to 5 years (n=617) | Patients with recurrence within 5 years (n=834) | P-value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age (years) | 55 (49–63) | 54 (48–62) | 56 (50–63) | 0.010§ |
| <60 | 945 (65.1) | 420 (68.1) | 525 (62.9) | 0.045‖ |
| ≥60 | 506 (34.9) | 197 (31.9) | 309 (37.1) | |
| Male | 1,147 (79.0) | 472 (76.5) | 675 (80.9) | 0.040 |
| Diabetes | 282 (19.4) | 113 (18.3) | 169 (20.3) | 0.383 |
| Etiology | 0.326 | |||
| HBV* | 1,150 (79.3) | 497 (80.6) | 653 (78.3) | |
| Others† | 301 (20.7) | 120 (19.4) | 181 (21.7) | |
| Liver cirrhosis | 692 (47.7) | 243 (39.4) | 449 (53.8) | <0.001 |
| Child-Pugh score | 0.008 | |||
| 5 | 1,132 (78.0) | 502 (81.4) | 630 (75.5) | |
| 6 | 319 (22.0) | 115 (18.6) | 204 (24.5) | |
| ALBI grade | <0.001 | |||
| 1 | 838 (57.8) | 392 (63.5) | 446 (53.5) | |
| 2 | 613 (42.2) | 225 (36.5) | 388 (46.5) | |
| FIB-4 score | <0.001 | |||
| <1.45 | 248 (17.1) | 137 (22.2) | 111 (13.3) | |
| ≥1.45 and <3.25 | 632 (43.6) | 286 (46.4) | 346 (41.5) | |
| ≥3.25 | 571 (39.4) | 194 (31.4) | 377 (45.2) | |
| APRI | <0.001 | |||
| <0.7 | 643 (44.3) | 324 (52.5) | 319 (38.2) | |
| ≥0.7 | 808 (55.7) | 293 (47.5) | 515 (61.8) | |
| MELD | 0.023 | |||
| ≤9 | 1,141 (78.6) | 503 (81.5) | 638 (76.5) | |
| ≥10 | 310 (21.4) | 114 (18.5) | 196 (23.5) | |
| AFP (ng/mL) | 18.9 (6.0–140.0) | 13.0 (4.6–161.3) | 23.9 (7.0–134.0) | 0.003 |
| <10 | 574 (39.6) | 279 (45.2) | 295 (35.4) | <0.001 |
| ≥10 | 877 (60.4) | 338 (54.8) | 539 (64.6) | |
| PIVKA-II‡ (mAU/mL) | 0.354 | |||
| <40 | 924 (66.8) | 394 (68.3) | 530 (65.8) | |
| ≥40 | 459 (33.2) | 183 (31.7) | 276 (34.2) | |
| Tumor number | 0.029 | |||
| Single | 1,330 (91.7) | 577 (93.5) | 753 (90.3) | |
| Two | 107 (7.4) | 38 (6.2) | 69 (8.3) | |
| Three | 14 (1.0) | 2 (0.3) | 12 (1.4) | |
| Maximal tumor size (cm) | 0.985 | |||
| ≤2 | 627 (43.2) | 265 (42.9) | 362 (43.4) | |
| >2 and ≤5 | 695 (47.9) | 297 (48.1) | 398 (47.7) | |
| >5 | 129 (8.9) | 55 (8.9) | 74 (8.9) | |
| BCLC stage | 0.246 | |||
| 0 | 442 (30.5) | 198 (32.1) | 244 (29.3) | |
| A | 1,009 (69.5) | 419 (67.9) | 590 (70.7) | |
| Initial treatment | <0.001 | |||
| RFA | 649 (44.7) | 199 (32.3) | 450 (54.0) | |
| Resection | 789 (54.4) | 412 (66.8) | 377 (45.2) | |
| RFA and resection | 13 (0.9) | 6 (1.0) | 7 (0.8) |
Values are presented as median (quartile) or number (%).
HBV, hepatitis B virus; ALBI, albumin-bilirubin; FIB-4 score, fibrosis-4 score; APRI, aspartate aminotransferase to platelet ratio; MELD, model for end-stage liver disease; AFP, alpha-fetoprotein; PIVKA-II, protein induced by vitamin K absence or antagonist-II; BCLC, Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer; RFA, radiofrequency ablation.
*
Eight cases had both HBV and hepatitis C virus infection.
†
Includes hepatitis C, alcohol, and non-B non-C.
‡
PIVKA-II results were missing in 68 patients.
§
Derived by the Mann-Whitney test using age as a continuous variable.
‖
Derived by the chi-squared test using age as a categorical variable.