Table 1:

Characteristics of patients with fatal and non-fatal hepatocellular carcinoma

Trait	Overall	Fatal N = 256	Non-fatal N = 745	P value
Age	58.4 ± 10.6	60.9 ± 10.5	57.5 ± 10.5	< 0.001
Year of HCC diagnosis	2012 (2009–2013)	2010 (2008–2013)	2012 (2010–2014)	< 0.001
% Male	67.6%	70.7%	66.6%	< 0.001
Race
Asian	6.6%	3.9%	7.5%	0.057
Black	7.4%	9.8%	6.6%
Hispanic	17.9%	15.2%	18.8%
White	61.2%	65.4%	59.9%
Other/unknown	6.9%	5.9%	7.2%
Subspecialty care before cancer diagnosis
Gastroenterologist	89.7%	91.0%	89.3%	0.41
Hepatology (subset of gastroenterologists)	29.3%	23.1%	31.4%	0.011
Number of imaging studies before cancer diagnosis
Ultrasound	2 (1–4)	2 (1–4)	2 (1–5)	0.88
Computed tomography	1 (0–3)	2 (1–3)	1 (0–2)	0.004
Magnetic resonance imaging	0 (0–2)	0 (0–1)	0 (0–2)	0.006
Computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging	2 (1–4)	2 (1–4)	2 (1–4)	0.57
Any imaging	5 (3–9)	5 (3–8)	5 (2–9)	0.84
Region
Mountain	4.0%	4.7%	3.8%	0.003
Midwest	16.5%	19.9%	15.3%
Northeast	7.1%	8.2%	6.7%
Pacific	17.8%	9.8%	20.5%
Southeast	34.2%	38.3%	32.8%
Southwest	20.5%	19.1%	20.9%
Hepatitis C virus	67.3%	64.1%	68.5%	0.20
Hepatitis B virus	14.3%	9.8%	15.8%	0.017
Alcohol history	59.0%	69.9%	55.3%	< 0.001
Complications at cirrhosis diagnosis
Ascites	6.7%	4.7%	7.4%	0.10
Encephalopathy	2.7%	3.5%	2.4%	0.39
Variceal bleed	8.3%	8.6%	8.2%	0.84
Any decompensation	15.4%	15.2%	15.4%	0.94
Alpha-fetoprotein measurement	62.3%	52.9%	65.5%	< 0.001