Impact of guideline adherence on the prognosis of Barcelona clinic liver cancer stage B hepatocellular carcinoma

Table 2 Baseline characteristics of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma between 2008 and 2016 according to the 2000 and 2012 European Association for the Study of the Liver guidelines

Variables	2000 EASL guidelines (HCC patients, 2008-2012)			2012 EASL guidelines (HCC patients, 2013-2016)
	Guideline-adherent	Upward treatment	P value	Guideline-adherent	Upward treatment	Downward treatment	P value
No. of patients	269.0	77.0		168.0	82.0	47.0
Age (yr)	60.7 ± 10.4	57.5 ± 10.2	0.017	62.6 ± 10.5	60.9 ± 9.7	64.8 ± 9.0	0.100
Male sex (n, %)	226 (84.0)	68 (88.3)	0.469	146 (86.9)	70 (85.4)	40 (85.1)	0.921
BMI (kg/m2)	24.5 ± 4.3	24.6 ± 3.1	0.919	23.8 ± 3.3	23.6 ± 4.2	23.2 ± 3.4	0.626
DM (n, %)	79 (29.4)	10 (13.0)	0.004	51 (30.4)	24 (29.3)	14 (29.8)	0.984
Hypertension (n, %)	98 (36.4)	28 (38.4)	0.991	58 (34.5)	40 (48.8)	19 (40.4)	0.095
Etiology
Hepatitis B (n, %)	166 (61.7)	51 (66.2)	0.469	99 (58.9)	51 (62.2)	27 (57.4)	0.729
Hepatitis C (n, %)	36 (13.4)	8 (10.4)	0.487	26 (15.5)	5 (6.1)	4 (8.5)	0.014
Alcohol (n, %)	98 (36.4)	30 (39.0)	0.685	72 (42.9)	41 (50.0)	21 (44.7)	0.566
Ascites (n, %)	23 (8.6)	1 (1.3)	0.085	19 (11.3)	9 (11.0)	7 (14.9)	0.522
Creatinine (mg/dL)	1.0 ± 0.6	0.9 ± 0.2	0.160	0.9 ± 0.5	1.0 ± 0.6	0.9 ± 0.3	0.624
Sodium (mmol/L)	139.4 ± 3.2	140.3 ± 2.9	0.021	138.7 ± 2.9	139.1 ± 3.8	137.8 ± 2.7	0.074
Alanine aminotransferase (IU/L)	49.2 ± 35.8	43.5 ± 32.8	0.206	50.7 ± 44.0	43.7 ± 26.3	43.9 ± 30.9	0.297
Platelet count (109/L)	143.8 ± 71.5	172.8 ± 68.1	0.002	146.4 ± 69.6	175.8 ± 74.4	173.6 ± 91.6	0.005
Serum albumin (g/dL)	3.8 ± 0.5	4.1 ± 0.6	< 0.001	3.8 ± 0.5	4.1 ± 0.5	3.6 ± 0.6	< 0.001
Total bilirubin (mg/dL)	1.1 ± 1.2	1.0 ± 0.6	0.475	1.0 ± 0.9	0.9 ± 0.8	1.1 ± 0.7	0.173
INR	1.1 ± 0.1	1.1 ± 0.2	0.017	1.1 ± 0.2	1.1 ± 0.1	1.1 ± 0.1	0.064
Child-Pugh score	5.5 ± 0.7	5.2 ± 0.5	0.025	5.5 ± 0.9	5.3 ± 0.7	5.8 ± 1.0	0.021
MELD score	8.8 ± 2.5	7.8 ± 2.2	0.002	8.7 ± 2.7	8.0 ± 2.5	8.8 ± 2.4	0.164
Alpha-fetoprotein (ng/mL)	1772.6 ± 7218.6	1826.7 ± 5996.8	0.952	3757.3 ± 19911.7	3186.6 ± 20583.6	2553.0 ± 9928.3	0.918
Numbers of tumor	3.7 ± 1.3	2.8 ± 1.2	< 0.001	3.7 ± 1.3	3.0 ± 1.3	4.0 ± 1.4	< 0.001
Maximum tumor diameter (cm)	4.8 ± 3.0	4.8 ± 2.2	0.989	5.1 ± 3.1	5.9 ± 3.4	6.0 ± 3.7	0.070

Data are presented as mean ± SD or number (%). BMI: body mass index; DM: Diabetes mellitus; EASL: European Association for the Study of the Liver; HCC: Hepatocellular carcinoma; INR: International normalized ratio; MELD: Mayo End-Stage Liver Disease.