Prognostic impact of diabetes mellitus on hepatocellular carcinoma: Special emphasis from the BCLC perspective

Background Diabetes mellitus (DM) is associated with higher incidence and poorer prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The influence of DM on patient survival in different HCC stages is not known. Methods A prospective dataset of 3,182 HCC patients was collected between 2002 and 2014. Patients were divided into three groups according to BCLC stages (BCLC stage 0 and stage A, BCLC stage B, BCLC stage C and stage D). We compared the cumulative survival rate of diabetic and non-diabetic patients in different BCLC groups. The correlation between DM and overall survival was also analyzed by multivariate Cox regression model within each group. Results DM is present in 25.2% of all patients. Diabetic patients had lower cumulative survival in BCLC stage 0 plus BCLC stage A group (log rank p<0.001), and BCLC stage B group (log rank p = 0.012), but not in BCLC stage C plus BCLC stage D group (log rank p = 0.132). Statistically significant differences in overall survival are found between diabetic and non-diabetic patients in BCLC stage 0 plus stage A group (adjusted hazard ratio [HR] = 1.45, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.08-1.93, p = 0.013), and BCLC stage B (adjusted HR = 1.77, 95% CI 1.24-2.51, p = 0.002). In contrast, the survival difference is not seen in BCLC stage C plus stage D group (adjusted HR = 1.09, 95% CI 0.90-1.30, p = 0.387). Conclusions DM is prevalent in HCC, and is associated with lower survival rate in HCC patients with BCLC stage 0 plus stage A and B, but not in those with BCLC stage C plus stage D.