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

Table 3 Baseline characteristics of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma between 2008 and 2016 according to the 2005 and 2010 American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases guidelines

Variables	2005 AASLD guidelines (HCC patients, 2008-2010)			2010 AASLD guidelines (HCC patients, 2011-2016)
	Guideline-adherent	Upward treatment	P value	Guideline-adherent	Upward treatment	P value
No. of patients	130	46		287	154
Age (yr)	60.8 ± 8.9	58.3 ± 10.2	0.286	62.6 ± 10.8	59.6 ± 10.0	0.005
Male sex (n, %)	106 (81.5)	40 (87)	0.498	252 (87.8)	130 (84.4)	0.319
BMI (kg/m2)	24.6 ± 4.5	24.2 ± 2.6	0.533	24.1 ± 3.4	24.0 ± 3.9	0.811
DM (n, %)	32.3	19.6	0.131	87 (30.3)	33 (21.4)	0.046
Hypertension (n, %)	40.8	30.4	0.289	107 (37.3)	63 (40.9)	0.456
Etiology
Hepatitis B (n, %)	86 (66.2)	30 (34.8)	0.908	164 (57.1)	93 (60.4)	0.656
Hepatitis C (n, %)	14 (10.8)	5 (10.9)	0.985	43 (15.0)	16 (10.4)	0.087
Alcohol (n, %)	47 (36.2)	19 (41.3)	0.596	117 (40.8)	68 (44.2)	0.492
Ascites (n, %)	4 (3.1)	4 (9.5)	0.156	14 (4.9)	36 (23.4)	< 0.001
Creatinine (mg/dL)	1.0 ± 0.7	0.9 ± 0.2	0.345	0.9 ± 0.4	0.9 ± 0.7	0.786
Sodium (mmol/L)	140.0 ± 3.0	139.8 ± 4.0	0.736	139.1 ± 2.8	138.6 ± 3.6	0.092
Alanine aminotransferase (IU/L)	51.3 ± 36.6	42.6 ± 25.3	0.138	48.5 ± 40.7	42.7 ± 27.0	0.112
Platelet count (109/L)	146.1 ± 70.3	151.3 ± 74.1	0.669	151.2 ± 67.8	158.3 ± 79.1	0.326
Serum albumin (g/dL)	3.9 ± 0.4	3.8 ± 0.7	0.063	3.9 ± 0.5	3.8 ± 0.7	0.146
Total bilirubin (mg/dL)	0.9 ± 0.4	1.6 ± 2.5	0.005	0.9 ± 0.4	1.2 ± 1.2	< 0.001
INR	1.1 ± 0.1	1.2 ± 0.2	0.074	1.1 ± 0.1	1.1 ± 0.2	< 0.001
Child-Pugh score	5.3 ± 0.5	5.8 ± 1.2	< 0.001	5.3 ± 0.5	5.8 ± 1.1	< 0.001
MELD score	8.6 ± 2.0	9.2 ± 3.5	0.186	8.2 ± 2.1	9.1 ± 3.3	< 0.001
Alpha-fetoprotein (ng/mL)	1516.5 ± 5731.8	440.0 ± 1635.9	0.212	2442.3 ± 10522.8	3862.8 ± 23036.1	0.379
Numbers of tumor	3.7 ± 1.3	3.0 ± 1.3	0.001	3.7 ± 1.3	3.1 ± 1.3	< 0.001
Maximum tumor diameter (cm)	4.3 ± 1.9	4.1 ± 1.9	0.579	5.1 ± 3.0	5.5 ± 3.5	0.169

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