Establishment and validation of an intratumoral fibrosis-based nomogram for predicting aggressive recurrence after liver resection in hepatocellular carcinoma

Table 2 Baseline characteristics of the low and high intratumoral fibrosis group before and after matching in training cohort

Baseline characteristics	Before matching				After IPTW
	Low-ITF group (n = 603)	High-ITF group (n = 252)	P value	SMD	Low-ITF group (n = 855)	High-ITF group (n = 856)	P value	SMD
Age (years), mean ± SD	54.0 ± 11.6	52.6 ± 11.6	0.108	0.121	53.8 ± 11.6	52.7 ± 11.7	0.233	0.094
Gender			0.750	0.032	-		0.521	0.049
Male	93 (15.4)	36 (14.3)			132 (15.4)	117 (13.7)
Female	510 (84.6)	216 (85.7)			723 (84.6)	739 (86.3)
Underlying liver diseases			0.036	0.206	-		0.998	0.005
Absence	64 (10.6)	28 (11.1)			92 (10.7)	91 (10.6)
HBV	468 (77.6)	209 (82.9)			677 (79.2)	680 (79.4)
Others	71 (11.8)	15 (6.0)			86 (10.1)	85 (9.9)
Liver cirrhosis			0.845	0.020	-		0.580	0.043
Absence	310 (51.4)	127 (50.4)			438 (51.2)	420 (49.0)
Presence	293 (48.6)	125 (49.6)			417 (48.8)	436 (51.0)
Tumor size (mm), median (IQR)	49.00 (31.00, 70.00)	53.50 (31.00, 90.00)	0.070	0.182	50.00 (31.00, 71.58)	49.43 (29.00, 84.81)	0.676	0.095
INR, median (IQR)	1.02 (0.96, 1.08)	1.03 (0.97, 1.12)	0.059	0.170	1.02 (0.96, 1.09)	1.03 (0.97, 1.12)	0.109	0.168
Neutrophil (× 109), median (IQR)	3.24 (2.39, 4.22)	3.50 (2.49, 4.58)	0.055	0.150	3.24 (2.39, 4.25)	3.48 (2.43, 4.58)	0.142	0.137
Lymphocyte (× 109), median (IQR)	1.39 (1.06, 1.73)	1.37 (1.05, 1.69)	0.657	0.006	1.38 (1.05, 1.73)	1.36 (1.03, 1.68)	0.582	0.005
Platelet (× 109), median (IQR)	153 (116,198)	164 (110, 217)	0.093	0.119	154 (115,200)	159 (108,220)	0.195	0.107
Monocyte (× 109), median (IQR)	0.32 (0.24, 0.42)	0.34 (0.25, 0.46)	0.093	0.171	0.33 (0.24, 0.43)	0.33 (0.25, 0.45)	0.178	0.153
ALT (U/L), median (IQR)	30.4 (20.8, 48.3)	30.2 (20.8, 45.4)	0.441	0.117	30.4 (20.9, 49.0)	30.0 (20.8, 45.3)	0.325	0.145
AST (U/L), median (IQR)	33.6 (24.5, 49.9)	33.6 (23.7, 47.5)	0.875	0.038	33.7 (24.6, 50.3)	33.2 (23.5, 45.2)	0.439	0.073
Creatine (µmol/L), median (IQR)	71.7 (63.1, 81.1)	72.4 (61.8, 81.4)	0.989	0.030	71.7 (62.8, 81.0)	72.4 (62.0, 82.3)	0.770	0.004
Albumin (g/L), median (IQR)	38.9 (36.5, 41.6)	39.0 (35.9, 41.8)	0.747	0.070	38.9 (36.3, 41.6)	38.8 (35.7, 42.2)	0.853	0.057
Total bilirubin (µmol/L), median (IQR)	13.7 (10.6, 18.1)	14.1 (10.3, 18.3)	0.791	0.013	13.7 (10.6, 18.1)	14.2 (10.4, 18.5)	0.943	0.015
AFP (ng/mL)			0.642	0.041	-		0.896	0.010
≤ 200	378 (62.7)	153 (60.7)			526 (61.5)	531 (62.0)
> 200	225 (37.3)	99 (39.3)			329 (38.5)	325 (38.0)
MVI			< 0.001	0.354	-		0.979	0.002
Negative	414 (68.7)	130 (51.6)			544 (63.6)	546 (63.8)
Positive	189 (31.3)	122 (48.4)			311 (36.4)	310 (36.2)
Satellite lesion			0.003	0.228	-		0.969	0.003
Absence	457 (75.8)	165 (65.5)			623 (72.9)	625 (73.0)
Presence	146 (24.2)	87 (34.5)			232 (27.1)	231 (27.0)
VETC pattern			0.767	0.028	-		0.063	0.143
Absence	406 (67.3)	173 (68.7)			564 (66.0)	621 (72.5)
Presence	197 (32.7)	79 (31.3)			291 (34.0)	235 (27.5)
Tumor grade			0.524	0.054	-		0.603	0.040
Well-moderate	403 (66.8)	162 (64.3)			559 (65.4)	576 (67.3)
Poor	200 (33.2)	90 (35.7)			296 (34.6)	280 (32.7)

Data are presented as n (%). ITF: Intratumoral fibrosis; SMD: Standardized mean difference; IPTW: Inverse probability of treatment weighting; INR: International normalized ratio; MVI: Microvascular invasion; VETC: Vessels that encapsulate tumor clusters; HBV: Hepatitis B virus; ALT: Alanine aminotransferase; AST: Aspartate aminotransferase; IQR: Interquartile range; AFP: Alpha-fetoprotein.