Table 3. The prognostic value of NLRs and NLRcs at different time points for disease-free survival in 195 hepatocellular carcinoma patients by multivariate analyses.

Variables	(1) DFS			(2) DFS			(3) DFS			(4) DFS			(5) DFS
	HR (95% CI)	P		HR (95% CI)	P		HR (95% CI)	P		HR (95% CI)	P		HR (95% CI)	P
Tumor diameter	1.492 (0.966,2.303)	0.071		1.493 (0.967, 2.307)	0.071		1.856 (1.210, 2.845)	0.005		1.547 (1.002, 2.388)	0.049		1.649 (1.064, 2.555)	0.025
Tumor number	1.847 (1.146, 2.978)	0.012		1.921 (1.188, 3.106)	0.008		1.864 (1.154, 3.012)	0.011		1.919 (1.186, 3.106)	0.008		1.928 (1.184, 3.141)	0.008
Vascular invasion	1.447 (0.716, 2.922)	0.303		1.467 (0.725, 2.968)	0.286		1.416 (0.704, 2.849)	0.330		1.529 (0.757, 3.088)	0.236		1.598 (0.780, 3.271)	0.200
BCLC stage	0.889 (0.399, 1.981)	0.773		0.857 (0.385, 1.908)	0.706		0.787 (0.353, 1.758)	0.560		0.862 (0.386, 1.928)	0.718		0.748 (0.330, 1.697)	0.487
Pathological differentiation	1.360 (0.710, 2.605)	0.354		1.316 (0.686, 2.525)	0.410		1.233 (0.641, 2.372)	0.531		1.464 (0.755, 2.837)	0.259		1.422 (0.740, 2.732)	0.290
Intraoperative blood transfusion	1.233 (0.849, 1.790)	0.272		1.204 (0.830, 1.747)	0.329		1.265 (0.872, 1.834)	0.215		1.233 (0.851, 1.787)	0.268		1.317 (0.906, 1.914)	0.149
Pre-NLR	1.178 (0.814, 1.705)	0.385
NLR (4–8 w)				1.570 (1.064, 2.317)	0.023
NLR (3–6 m)							2.206 (1.518, 3.206)	<0.001
NLRc (4–8 w)											0.369
NLRc (4–8 w) ≥25% decrease										0.786 (0.523, 1.182)	0.248
NLRc (4–8 w) ≥25% increase										1.079 (0.606, 1.920)	0.797
NLRc (3–6 m)														0.013
NLRc (3–6 m) ≥25% decrease													0.784 (0.512, 1.200)	0.262
NLRc (3–6 m) ≥25% increase													1.633 (1.020, 2.615)	0.041

BCLC, Barcelona clinic liver cancer; AFP, α-fetoprotein; NLR, neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio; Pre-NLR, preoperative NLR; NLRc, changes of NLR.