A nomogram predicting the prognosis of young adult patients diagnosed with hepatocellular carcinoma: A population-based analysis.

Abstract

Few studies have reported the clinical characteristics and outcomes of young adult patients diagnosed with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). This study aimed to formulate a nomogram to predict the prognosis of young adult HCC patients. Young adult patients diagnosed with HCC from 2004 to 2015 were screened from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database. Based on the multivariate analysis results, a nomogram was constructed. The concordance index (c-index) and calibration were used to assess the predictive performance of the nomogram. The clinical benefit was measured by using decision curve analysis (DCA). The mean follow-up time of the patients was 25.0±34.0 months. Gender, race, AFP level, Edmondson-Steiner classification, treatment and TNM stage were selected as independent prognostic factors and integrated into the nomogram. The c-indexes of the two sets were 0.786 and 0.775, respectively. The calibration curves showed good agreement between the nomogram-predicted probability and the actual observations. Furthermore, the DCA indicated that the nomogram had positive net benefits compared with the conventional staging system. The nomogram could accurately predict the prognosis of young adult HCC patients.