Transient elastography and fibrosis-4 index as predictors of hepatocellular carcinoma in hepatitis C virus patients with sustained virological response

Table 2 Comparative demographic, clinical, liver stiffness measure, and fibrosis-4 index analysis according to hepatocellular carcinoma development (n = 425), mean ± SD/n (%)

Variables	People without incident HCC (n = 399)	People with incident HCC (n = 26)	P value
Age, years	60.8 ± 10.3	64.8 ± 6.0	0.004
Female sex	261 (65.4)	16 (61.5)	0.68
BMI, kg/m2	28.0 ± 5.3	26.9 ± 3.2	0.36
Type 2 diabetes mellitus	144 (36)	12 (46)	0.30
Pre-T platelets, 109/L	168 ± 71	113 ± 44	< 0.001
Pre-T AST, U/L, median IQR	70 (45-110)	101 (62-123)	0.04
Pre-T ALT, U/L, median IQR	88 (55-139)	102 (52-126)	0.85
Pre-T albumin, g/dL, median IQR	3.8 (3.5-4.1)	3.4 (3.1-3.9)	0.007
Pre-T LSM, kPa, median IQR	14.6 (11.8-22.2)	24.5 (14.2-34.6)	< 0.001
Pre-T FIB-4, median IQR	2.83 (1.84-4.6)	5.86 (4.37-9.15)	< 0.001
1yr-EOT-platelets, 109/L	178 ± 69	138 ± 37	0.005
1-year-EOT AST, median IQR	24 (20-31)	29 (31-39)	0.03
1-year-EOT ALT, median IQR	25 (19-33)	25 (19-32)	0.78
1-year-EOT albumin, median IQR	4.1 (3.9-4.4)	3.8 (3.7-4.3)	0.02
1-year-EOT LSM, kPa, median IQR	11.9 (7.8-18.8)	20.1 (13.9-35.5)	< 0.001
1-year-EOT FIB-4, median IQR	1.75 (1.22-2.63)	3.02 (2.3-5.3)	< 0.001

IQR: Interquartile range; Pre-T: Pre-treatment; BMI: Body mass index; ALT: Alanine aminotransferase; AST: Aspartate aminotransferase; LSM: Liver stiffness measure; FIB-4: Fibrosis-4; 1-year-EOT: One year after the end of treatment; HCC: Hepatocellular carcinoma.