Late hepatitis C virus diagnosis among patients with newly diagnosed hepatocellular carcinoma: a case–control study

Table 1 Demographic characteristics of patients with hepatitis C virus who were diagnosed late relative to hepatocellular carcinoma in Taiwan

Variables	Late group		Control group		P value
Variables	n = 3733	%	n = 2970	%	P value
(A) Individual-level
Gender					< 0.0001
Female	1483	39.73	1410	47.46
Male	2250	60.27	1560	52.53
Age	67.46	62.94	< .00001
Co-morbidities
DM	821	21.99	582	19.60	0.017
Dyslipidemia	16	0.43	18	0.60	0.310
Psychiatric disorders	19	0.51	16	0.54	0.867
Alcohol related disease	149	3.99	54	1.82	< 0.0001
Malignancy	95	2.54	55	1.85	0.057
SES					0.001
Low income group	817	21.89	538	18.11
Union/association member	1871	50.12	1613	54.31
< 60,000 (NTD$)	881	23.60	697	23.47
≥ 60,000 (NTD$)	164	4.39	122	4.11
Care seeking behavior					0.697
Very lower	944	25.29	730	24.58
Lower	921	24.67	765	27.76
Middle	944	25.29	731	24.61
Higher	924	24.75	744	25.05
Medical physical check-ups					< 0.0001
No	2707	72.52	1841	61.99
Yes	1026	27.48	1129	38.01
(B) Provider level
Age			< 0.0001
< 45	937	25.10	919	30.94
45–54	1338	35.84	1236	41.62
≥ 55	1458	39.06	815	27.44
Gender					0.015
Female	252	6.75	158	5.32
Male	3481	93.25	2812	94.68
Specialty					< 0.0001
Internal medicine	1419	38.01	1258	42.36
Family medicine	1039	27.83	851	28.65
Other specialties	1275	34.15	861	28.99
Accreditation status of practice					0.175
Clinics and district hospital	2326	62.31	1916	64.51
Regional hospital	904	24.22	681	22.93
Medical center	503	13.47	373	12.56
Ownership of practice					0.682
Public	569	15.24	442	14.88
Private	3164	84.76	2528	85.12
(C) HCC diagnostic year
2012	761	80.61	183	19.39
2013	652	69.44	287	30.56
2014	599	61.18	380	38.82
2015	517	49.76	522	50.24
2016	435	46.03	510	53.97
2017	426	43.92	544	56.08
2018	343	38.67	544	61.33
2012–2014	2012	70.30	850	29.70
2015–2016	952	47.98	1032	52.02
2017–2018	769	41.41	1088	58.59

DM = diabetes mellitus; Psychiatric disorders = including schizophrenia, depression, and anxiety; SES = socioeconomic status;
HCC = hepatocellular carcinoma; NTD = New Taiwan dollars; US$1 = approximately NT$30.24
Late group = late HCV diagnosis relative to hepatocellular carcinoma

ISSN: 1471-230X