Multimarker model for non-invasive assessment of variceal bleeding in chronic hepatitis C cirrhotic patients

Table 13 Final multivariate ordinal logistic regression for predictors of higher variceal grade in the combined cirrhotic cohort (groups I and II)

Variable1	aOR (95%CI)	P value
FT3 (per 1 pmol/L decrease)	2.25 (1.68-3.01)	< 0.001
PLT (per 50 × 103/μL decrease)	1.72 (1.38-2.15)	< 0.001
INR (per 0.1 unit increase)	1.15 (1.06-1.25)	0.001
Bleeding status (yes)	2.85 (1.90-4.28)	< 0.001
Age (years)	1.01 (0.98-1.04)	0.480
Sex (male)	1.15 (0.91-1.45)	0.240

¹Continuous predictors (free triiodothyronine, platelet count, international normalized ratio) were scaled to clinically relevant increments (a 1 pmol/L decrease, a 50 × 10³/μL decrease, and a 0.1 unit increase, respectively) to facilitate interpretation.

Variance inflation factors for all variables were < 3, indicating no significant multicollinearity. A sensitivity analysis excluding patients with nonhepatic comorbidities (n = 4) yielded nearly identical results: Free triiodothyronine adjusted odds ratio (aOR) = 2.22 (1.61-3.06), platelet count aOR = 1.71 (1.35-2.16), international normalized ratio aOR = 1.15 (1.05-1.25), supporting model robustness. aOR: Adjusted odds ratio; FT3: Free triiodothyronine; PLT: Platelet count; INR: International normalized ratio.