Statistical analysis

Patient characteristics were expressed as medians and interquartile ranges (IQRs) for continuous variables and as actual numbers and percentages for categorical variables. OS and PFS were calculated using the Kaplan–Meier method, and their statistical differences were evaluated using the log-rank test. Cox proportional hazard models were used to identify independent factors associated with PFS and OS.

The NLR was calculated by dividing the absolute neutrophil count by the absolute lymphocyte count from peripheral complete blood counts. The cutoff value of NLR’s predictive capability for radiological progressive disease was calculated using a receiver operating characteristic curve based on sensitivity and specificity using the Youden index [18]. Cutoff values for other factors such as age [19], AFP level [1], maximum tumor diameter, number of tumors [19, 20], Child–Pugh score, and mALBI grade [7, 21, 22] were based on previous studies.

Statistical significance was set at a P value of < 0.05. All analyses were performed using SPSS statistical software version 24.0 for Windows (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA).