Table 6.

Predict factors associated with HCC extrahepatic recurrence

Variable	Comparison	Univariate		Multivariate 1a		Multivariate 2b
		HR (95% CI)	P-value	HR (95% CI)	P-value	HR (95% CI)	P-value
Age (years)	> 60 vs. ≤ 60	0.36 (0.12-1.14)	0.083	0.55 (0.14-2.16)	0.387
Sex	Male vs. Female	0.54 (0.19-1.59)	0.265
Diabetes mellitus	Yes vs. No	1.21 (0.38-3.80)	0.747
CHB	Yes vs. No	2.01 (0.64-6.32)	0.232
CHC	Yes vs. No	0.76 (0.24-2.39)	0.638
MAFLD	Yes vs. No	0.43 (0.05-3.46)	0.429
AFP (ng/mL)	> 10 vs. ≤ 10	14.89 (1.96-113.24)	0.009	6.69 (0.81-55.12)	0.077
Liver cirrhosis	Yes vs. No	2.05 (0.73-5.78)	0.173
Child-Pugh grade	B vs. A	0.96 (0.13-7.32)	0.969
Tumor number	Multiple vs. Single	0.85 (0.11-6.49)	0.877
Tumor size (cm)	> 2 vs. ≤ 2	1.53 (0.43-5.41)	0.514
Histological grade	Poor vs. well + moderate	15.01 (4.20-53.68)	< 0.001	16.279 (3.09-85.75)	0.001	18.29 (3.56-93.88)	< 0.001
Capsule invasion	Yes vs. No	2.03 (0.27-15.53)	0.495
Microvascular invasion	None	Reference
	Capsule vein	1.92 (0.46-8.04)	0.371
	Portal vein	3.01 (0.58-15.55)	0.188
	Both	10.94 (3.16-37.96)	< 0.001	8.54 (2.34-31.22)	0.001	8.74 (2.38-32.03)	0.001

Abbreviations: HR, hazard ratio; CI, confidence interval; MVI, microvascular invasion; CHB, chronic hepatitis B; CHC, chronic hepatitis C; AST, aspartate aminotransferase; ALT, alanine aminotransferase; AFP, alpha fetoprotein; BCLC, Barcelona clinical liver cancer; MAFLD, metabolic-associated fatty liver disease.

^aMultivariate 1: multivariable analysis based on all potential risk factors (P < 0.1 in the univariate Cox model) forced into the model.

^bMultivariate 2: multivariable analysis with variables (P < 0.1 in the univariate Cox model) using forward stepwise conditional LR method with P < 0.05 as selection criterion.