Table 2.

Univariable and multivariable Cox regression analyses of potential factors for the metastasis-free survival in NPC patients ^a.

Variable	Univariable		Multivariable b
	HR (95%CI)	p	HR (95%CI)	p
Gender
Female	1.000 (ref)		1.000 (ref)
Male	1.139 (0.444–2.922)	0.787	0.794 (0.284–2.224)	0.661
Age (years)
≤45	1.000 (ref)		1.000 (ref)
>45	0.886 (0.467–1.681)	0.710	0.788 (0.378–1.643)	0.525
Grade
I/II	1.000 (ref)		1.000 (ref)
III/IV	22.789 (3.122–166.353)	0.002	23.445 (3.105–177.040)	0.002
VCA-IgA
≤1:80	1.000 (ref)		1.000 (ref)
>1:80	1.114 (0.511–2.431)	0.786	0.600 (0.218–1.652)	0.323
EBNA1/IgA
≤20	1.000 (ref)		1.000 (ref)
>20	1.518 (0.802–2.871)	0.200	0.934 (0.426–2.050)	0.865
Family history
No	1.000 (ref)		1.000 (ref)
Yes	0.912 (0.418–1.991)	0.817	1.074 (0.435–2.653)	0.876
Recurrence
No	1.000 (ref)		1.000 (ref)
Yes	3.165 (1.117–8.968)	0.030	1.500 (0.481–4.680)	0.485
BMI (kg/m2)
<25	1.000 (ref)		1.000 (ref)
≥25	0.727 (0.341–1.547)	0.408	0.507 (0.207–1.241)	0.137
Adiponectin c	0.883 (0.798–0.976)	0.015	0.890 (0.796–0.996)	0.043
Low	1.000 (reference)		1.000 (reference)
High	0.282 (0.100–0.796)	0.005	0.245 (0.080–0.745)	0.013

Abbreviations: NPC, nasopharyngeal carcinoma; VCA-IgA, viral capsid antigen-immunoglobulin A; EBNA1/IgA, Epstein–Barr nuclear antigen 1–immunoglobulin A; BMI, body mass index; HR, hazard ratio; CI, confidence interval; MFS, metastasis-free survival. ^a Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed by Cox proportional hazards’ regression models. ^b Multivariable model included age, gender, grade, VCA-IgA, EBNA1/IgA, family history, recurrence, and BMI. ^c All subjects were divided into two groups based on serum adiponectin levels with the median value as the cutoff (8.00 μg/mL).