Table 1

Patients’ sociodemographic and clinical characteristics at enrolment

Disease condition
Descriptive variablesWhole sampleHepatitisCirrhosisHCCOLT
N (%)1088 (100)652 (59.9)222 (20.4)85 (7.8)129 (11.9)
Age, mean (minimum–maximum)57.6 (18.9–89.5)56.1 (18.9–83.1)61.1 (36.0–82.4)65.0 (37.4–89.5)54.8 (18.9–71.8)
Male, %6259.557.776.572.9
Aetiology, N (%)*
 HCV563 (52.2)346 (53.1)115 (53.2)53 (64.6)49 (38.0)
 HBV312 (28.9)221 (33.9)42 (19.4)12 (14.6)37 (28.7)
 Other causes*†204 (18.9)85 (13.0)59 (27.4)17 (20.8)43 (33.3)
Alcohol, N (%)*
 ≥1 glass at meals196 (18.7)157 (25.1)23 (10.7)8 (9.6)8 (6.5)
Drug misuse, N (%)*
 Past or current93 (8.9)62 (10.0)16 (7.6)7 (8.6)8 (6.4)
Smoking habits, N (%)*
 Past or current498 (47.1)283 (44.7)109 (50.5)44 (53.7)62 (49.6)
Education, N (%)*
 Primary392 (36.6)211 (32.8)105 (48.4)38 (45.2)38 (29.9)
 Lower Secondary377 (35.2)250 (38.8)59 (27.2)23 (27.4)45 (35.4)
 Upper secondary243 (22.7)149 (23.1)40 (18.4)20 (23.8)34 (26.8)
 Graduate/postgraduate60 (5.6)34 (5.3)13 (6.0)3 (2.3)10 (12.0)
Marital status, N (%)*
 Married744 (74.7)445 (44.7)151 (15.2)59 (5.9)89 (8.9)
 Single144 (14.5)89 (8.9)19 (1.9)9 (0.9)27 (2.7)
Widow/widower63 (6.3)29 (2.9)27 (2.7)4 (0.4)3 (0.3)
 Divorced44 (4.4)18 (1.8)11 (1.1)6 (0.6)9 (0.9)
Working status, N (%)*
 Paid job546 (53.8)373 (60.2)91 (45.5)25 (31.6)57 (49.1)
 Unpaid job26 (2.6)16 (2.6)4 (2)2 (2.5)4 (3.4)
 Retired‡287 (28.3)150 (24.2)66 (33)39 (49.4)32 (27.6)
 Unemployed57 (5.6)30 (4.8)12 (6.0)4 (5.1)11 (9.5)
 Student7 (0.7)3 (0.5)004 (3.4)
 Housewife14 (1.4)7 (1.1)7 (3.5)00
  • *Up to 128 patients reported missing data in one or more items: percentages were estimated excluding patients with data missing.

  • †Other causes included: hepatitis virus co-infections, alcoholic liver disease, cholestatic disease, autoimmune disease.

  • ‡Thirty-five retired patients declared they also had a paid job, five were housewives, four had an unpaid job and one was unemployed. These patients were included in these categories and excluded from the ‘retired’ category.

  • HBV, hepatitis B virus; HCC, hepatocellular carcinoma; HCV, hepatitis C virus; OLT, orthotopic liver transplantation.