Alcohol, postprandial plasma glucose, and prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma

Table 4 Univariate and multivariate regression analysis of factors related to survival after diagnosis of stage T1-T3 hepatocellular carcinoma

	HR	95% CI	P value
Univariate analysis
Age (< 69/≥ 69 yr)	0.846	0.527-1.356	0.4854
Sex (male/female)	1.148	0.687-1.919	0.5975
Stage of underlying liver disease (non cirrhosis, Child-Pugh A/Child-Pugh B, C)	0.363	0.200-0.658	0.0009
T stage in the TNM system (T1/T2, T3 )	0.352	0.181-0.687	0.0023
Number of HCCs (solitary/multiple)	0.397	0.232-0.677	0.0082
Maximum size of HCCs (< 20/≥ 20 mm)	0.833	0.520-1.335	0.4469
Vascular invasion of HCCs (no/yes)	0.382	0.119-1.220	0.1039
Method of therapy (curative/non-curative)1	0.770	0.472-1.255	0.2918
HBs-Ag (negative/positive)	1.596	0.696-3.664	0.2686
HCV-Ab (negative/positive)	0.972	0.568-1.664	0.9157
AST (< 63/≥ 63 IU/L)	0.683	0.418-1.115	0.1269
ALT (< 49/≥ 49 IU/L)	0.968	0.596-1.570	0.8935
AFP (< 41/≥ 41 ng/mL)	0.365	0.205-0.649	0.0007
PIVKA-II (< 83/≥ 83 mAU/mL)	0.381	0.183-0.792	0.0101
Habitual alcohol drinkers (yes/no)	1.065	0.665-1.704	0.7939
Uninterrupted alcohol consumption after initial therapy for HCC (no/yes)	0.319	0.172-0.589	0.0002
BMI (< 25/≥ 25 kg/m2)	0.826	0.473-1.441	0.4989
Presence of diabetes mellitus (yes/no)	0.681	0.416-1.115	0.1258
Mean postprandial plasma glucose level after initial therapy for HCC (< 200/≥ 200 mg/dL)	0.143	0.054-0.381	0.0001
Multivariate regression analysis
A stepwise Cox's hazard model
Stage of underlying liver disease
Non-cirrhosis, Child-Pugh A	1.0
Child-Pugh B, C	0.649	0.476-0.885	0.0068
T stage in the TNM system
T1		1.0
T2/T3	0.788	0.653-0.945	0.0108
Uninterrupted alcohol consumption after initial therapy for HCC
No		1.0
Yes	0.641	0.469-0.877	0.0055
Mean postprandial plasma glucose level after initial therapy for HCC
< 200 mg/dL	1.0
≥ 200 mg/dL	0.502	0.337-0.747	0.0005

¹Curative therapies are surgical resection, percutaneous ethanol injection therapy, and percutaneous percutaneous radiofrequency ablation. TNM: Tumor, node, metastasis; HCC: Hepatocellular carcinoma; HCV: Hepatitis C virus; HBs-Ag: Surface antigen of the hepatitis B virus; HCV-Ab: Hepatitis C antibody; AST: Aspartate aminotransferase; ALT: Alanine aminotransferase; AFP: alpha-fetoprotein; PIVKA-II: Proteins induced by vitamin KAbsense of antagonist-II; BMI: Body mass index; HR: Hazard ratio.