Table 5 Clinical features of refractory and non-refractory groups

Non-refractory group (n = 106)

Refractory group (n = 15)

P-value

Discrete traits

N (%)

N (%)

 Sex

0.356

  Male

11 (10.4)

0 (0)

  Female

95 (89.6)

15 (100)

 Pattern of disease onset

45 (42.5)

2 (13.3)

0.045

 Acute onset

 Other autoimmune diseases

19 (17.9)

3 (20.0)

0.735

 Death from liver disease-related causes

0 (0)

8 (53.3)

<0.001

 ANA positivity

92 (86.8)

13 (86.7)

1.000

 ANA (<40/40/80/>80)

14/15/18/59

2/2/6/5

0.274

 AMA positivity

13 (12.3)

0 (0)

0.366

 Splenomegaly

32 (30.8)

9 (60.0)

0.038

 Fibrosis stage (F0-F2/F3-F4)

55/42

5/4

1.000

Continuous traits

Median (Min-Max)

Median (Min-Max)

P-value

 Age (years)

57 (9–87)

64 (46–85)

0.167

 Total bilirubin (mg/dL)

1.1 (0.4–30.4)

5.1 (0.8–33.2)

0.001

 Aspartate aminotransferase (U/L)

248 (21–2738)

133 (46–1130)

0.229

 Alanine aminotransferase (U/L)

310 (15–2325)

284 (30–741)

0.429

 Alkaline phosphatase (U/L)

456 (131–1463)

564 (420–830)

0.007

 Gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (IU/L)

161 (26–679)

192 (48–1404)

0.532

 Prothrombin time (%)

86 (29–130)

73 (43–109.1)

0.002

 Albumin (g/dL)

3.8 (1.9–4.7)

3.2 (2.7–4.0)

0.004

 Platelets (x 10⁴/μL)

18.0 (8.9–39.6)

11.1 (6.8–36.8)

0.016

 Immunoglobulin G (mg/dL)

2536 (938–6750)

2163(1654–5495)

0.514

 Immunoglobulin M (mg/dL)

135.5 (47–1720)

172.5 (52–321)

0.618

 AIH score (except for histology score)

14 (6–18)

13 (9–16)

0.748

 AIH score (including histology score)

18 (8–22)

17 (9–21)

0.284