Predictive value of neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio for prognosis in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma treated with programmed cell death 1 inhibitors

Table 5 Comparison of baseline characteristics between patients with low neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio and high neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio, n (%)/mean ± SD

Variable	Low NLR group (n = 129)	High NLR group (n = 105)	t/χ2	P value
Gender			0.513	0.474
Male	109 (84.50)	85 (80.95)
Female	20 (15.50)	20 (19.05)
Age (years)	56.98 ± 5.12	57.65 ± 5.05	1.007	0.315
BMI (kg/m2)	22.44 ± 1.49	22.19 ± 1.58	1.218	0.224
History of smoking	58 (44.96)	55 (52.38)	1.276	0.259
History of alcohol consumption	52 (40.31)	49 (46.67)	0.953	0.329
Etiology			0.197	0.906
Hepatitis B	116 (89.92)	95 (90.48)
Hepatitis C	5 (3.88)	3 (2.86)
Others	8 (6.20)	7 (6.67)
BCLC stage			5.828	0.016
B	47 (36.43)	23 (21.90)
C	82 (63.57)	82 (78.10)
Child-Pugh grade			3.790	0.052
A	107 (82.95)	76 (72.38)
B	22 (17.05)	29 (27.62)
ECOG PS score			4.081	0.043
0	89 (68.99)	59 (56.19)
1	40 (31.01)	46 (43.81)
Maximum tumor diameter (cm)	7.52 ± 1.84	8.76 ± 2.12	4.800	< 0.001
Macrovascular invasion	56 (43.41)	68 (64.76)	10.593	0.001
Extrahepatic spread	82 (63.57)	83 (79.05)	6.673	0.010

NLR: Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio; BMI: Body mass index; BCLC: Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer; ECOG PS: Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group Performance Status.