Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Research Article

Effects of Traditional Chinese Medicine Adjuvant Therapy on the Survival of Patients with Primary Liver Cancer

Table 2

Baseline characteristics of patients with primary liver cancer before and after propensity score matching.


Variables	Before propensity score matching				After propensity score matching
Variables	Control group (n = 748)	TCM group (n = 1111)		values	Control group (n = 452)	TCM group (n = 452)	values

Age, years	57 (50,63)	56 (50,62)		0.200	57 (50,64)	56 (50,62)	0.484
Gender (male/female)	582/166	874/237		0.659	346/106	359/93	0.297
Family history of PLC (yes/no/NA)	60/687/1	122/989/0		0.053	32/419/1	37/415/0	0.501
History of smoking (yes/no/NA)	333/413/2	498/608/5		0.809	193/257/2	207/243/2	0.643
History of alcohol use (yes/no/NA)	306/439/3	499/612/0		0.028	170/279/3	220/232/0	0.001
Diabetes (yes/no/NA)	165/581/2	250/860/1		0.633	101/350/1	95/356/1	0.889
Hypertension (yes/no/NA)	195/551/2	281/827/3		0.932	128/323/1	105/345/2	0.189
ALT, U/L	39.2 (25.4,65.5)	28.7 (19.9,45.3)		<0.001	33.2 (22.3,53.9)	28.5 (19.8,45.3)	0.003
AST, U/L	58.6 (32.7,127.3)	33.1 (24.2,51.1)		<0.001	37.9 (27.1,67.6)	37.9 (26.6,57.1)	0.093
TBIL, µmol/L	27.3 (15.5,48.9)	16.7 (11.8,24.6)		<0.001	19.9 (12.5,32.0)	18.7 (12.8,28.8)	0.197
ALB, g/L	33.5 (28.8,38.9)	38.5 (33.4,42.2)		<0.001	36.4 (31.4,40.6)	36.8 (30.9,41.3)	0.632
A/G	1.0 (0.8,1.3)	1.3 (1.0,1.5)		<0.001	1.2 (0.9,1.5)	1.2 (0.9,1.4)	0.525
TBA, µmol/L	22.4 (8.8,56.0)	14.5 (6.2,34.5)		<0.001	15.7 (7,42.6)	20.6 (7.7,48.3)	0.150
Cr, µmol/L	67.6 (58,81.9)	67 (58.9,76)		0.028	67 (57.2,78)	66.9 (57.9,75)	0.218
PTA, %	70 (58.4,83)	82.8 (70,94)		<0.001	76.1 (64.5,89)	78 (65.4,91)	0.241
INR	1.2 (1.1,1.3)	1.1 (1.0,1.2)		<0.001	1.1 (1.0,1.3)	1.1 (1.0,1.3)	0.361
LC, 10⁹/L	1.0 (0.7,1.4)	1.2 (0.8,1.7)		<0.001	1.1 (0.7,1.6)	1.1 (0.7,1.6)	0.802
NLR	3.3 (1.9,5.7)	2.0 (1.4,2.9)		<0.001	2.4 (1.5,4.0)	2.2 (1.4,3.3)	0.013
Hb, g/L	124 (101.8,138.4)	134 (118.2,147)		<0.001	129.6 (109,142.2)	130.3 (112,144.3)	0.146
PLT, 10⁹/L	101.3 (66.4,152.2)	93.4 (61.3,146.1)		0.017	101.1 (62.3,149.5)	86 (59,139)	0.019
HBeAg (positive/negative/NA)	205/500/43	310/725/76		0.593	121/296/35	127/293/32	0.863
HBV-DNA, IU/ml (≥500/<500/NA)	327/389/32	384/691/36		<0.001	162/275/15	163/274/15	0.998

Etiology
HBV	623/125	948/163		0.233	377/75	376/76	0.929
HCV	51/697	77/1034		0.925	33/419	30/422	0.695
Alcoholic hepatitis	26/722	42/1069		0.732	6/446	25/427	0.001
Other	48/700	44/1067		0.017	36/416	21/431	0.04
Antiviral therapy (yes/no/NA)	249/412/87	518/503/90		<0.001	199/205/48	188/221/43	0.552
Cirrhosis (yes/no)	678/70	899/212		<0.001	387/65	405/47	0.069
Decompensation (yes/no)	585/163	593/518		<0.001	296/156	305/147	0.526
Child-Pugh class (A/B/C)	278/285/185	816/235/60		<0.001	270/141/41	271/133/48	0.675
AFP, ng/ml (≥400/<400/NA)	257/481/10	184/925/2		<0.001	108/342/2	91/359/2	0.394
Tumor number (≥2/<2/NA)	430/289/29	387/689/35		<0.001	208/229/15	192/239/21	0.396
PVTT (yes/no/NA)	282/398/68	72/1010/29		<0.001	83/343/26	68/360/24	0.371
BCLC stage (A/B/C/D)	233/97/224/194	728/227/94/62		<0.001	224/91/94/43	230/88/84/50	0.749

Type of treatment
Resection (yes/no)	32/716		162/949	<0.001	32/420	32/420	1.000
Minimally invasive (yes/no)	276/472		801/310	<0.001	276/176	284/168	0.584
Palliative (yes/no)	440/308		148/963	<0.001	144/308	136/316	0.565

ALT, alanine aminotransferase; AST, aspartate aminotransferase; TBIL, total bilirubin; ALB, albumin; A/G, albumin/globulin; TBA, total bile acid; Cr, creatinine; PTA, prothrombin activity; INR, international normalized ratio; LC, lymphocyte count; NLR, neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio; Hb, hemoglobin; PLT, platelets; HBV, hepatitis B virus; HCV, hepatitis C virus; AFP, alpha-fetoprotein; PVTT, portal vein tumor thrombus; BCLC stage, barcelona clinic liver cancer stage.