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Table 1 Baseline characteristics of incident HCC cases and matched control subjects within the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study from 1992 to 2010

From: Exposure to bacterial products lipopolysaccharide and flagellin and hepatocellular carcinoma: a nested case-control study

Characteristic

Case subjects (N = 139)

Matched control subjects (N = 139)a

P value

Men (%)

70.5

70.5

e

Age at blood collection (y), mean (SD)

60.0 (7.3)

60.0 (7.3)

e

Follow-up from blood collection (y), mean (SD)

6.0 (3.4)

--

Smoking status (%)

  

0.002

 Never smoker

29.7

43.5

 

 Former smoker

30.4

36.2

 Current smoker

39.1

19.6

BMI (kg/m2), mean (SD)

28.4 (4.7)

27.3 (4.2)

0.035

Physical activity (%)

  

0.652

 Inactive

7.3

10.9

 

 Moderately inactive

36.2

31.2

 Moderately active

46.4

48.6

 Active

10.1

9.4

No. with prevalent diabetes (%)

13.0

7.3

0.455

HBV or HCV positive (%)b

35.6

3.0

<0.001

 HBV positive (%)b

16.8

2.0

<0.001

 HCV positive (%)b

21.8

2.0

<0.001

Liver damage score (%)b

 0

29.0

83.2

<0.001

 1–2

31.0

16.8

 

 ≥3

40.0

0

Baseline blood biomarkers, mean (SD)

 Anti-LPS IgG + IgA

4.27 (1.38)

3.64 (1.32)

<0.001

 Anti-flagellin IgG + IgA

3.81 (1.34)

3.22 (1.17)

<0.001

 Anti-LPS IgG + anti-flagellin IgG

3.62 (1.31)

3.19 (1.19)

0.005

 Anti-LPS IgA + anti-flagellin IgA

4.46 (1.57)

3.67 (1.40)

<0.001

 Anti-LPS IgG + IgA + anti-flagellin IgG + IgA

8.08 (2.59)

6.86 (2.34)

<0.001

 Fischer's ratioc

1.33 (0.26)

1.53 (0.24)

<0.001

 C-reactive protein (mg/L)d

2.8 (3.0)

2.0 (2.2)

0.006

  1. From the following recruitment centers, number of HCC cases: Denmark (N = 21), Germany (N = 31), Greece (N = 16), Italy (N = 28), Spain (N = 11), Sweden (N = 13), the Netherlands (N = 4), United Kingdom (N = 15). No eligible case patients were identified in the cohorts of France and Norway, which include women only
  2. aControl subjects had to be alive as of the time of diagnosis of the corresponding case patients and were matched with case patients for study center, sex, age at the time of blood collection (±12 months), date of blood collection (±2 months), and time of day of blood collection (±3 h). Women were further matched by menopausal status (pre-, post-, or perimenopausal) and use of exogenous hormones (oral contraceptives for premenopausal women and hormone replacement therapy for postmenopausal women) at time of blood collection
  3. bAvailable for 100 cases and 100 controls
  4. cCalculated as the molar ratio of branched-chain amino acids (leucine, valine, isoleucine) to aromatic amino acids (phenylalanine, tyrosine, histidine, tryptophan), an indicator of hepatic functional reserve and the severity of liver dysfunction. Geometric means (SD)
  5. dGeometric means and SDs, available for 100 cases and 100 controls
  6. eMatching factor