Effect of serum triglyceride level on the prognosis of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma in the absence of cirrhosis

BACKGROUND: The liver plays an important role in the metabolism of lipid and lipoprotein. Dyslipidemia has been demonstrated to be related with several cancers, but the association between serum lipid and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in the absence of cirrhosis remains unclear. METHODS: A total of 2528 patients with HCC at the Beijing Ditan Hospital between February 2008 and December 2017 were retrospectively included in the study. We identified 200 patients with HCC without cirrhosis by histopathology, imaging, endoscopic findings, and laboratory tests. Multivariate regression analysis was performed to determine the independent characteristics associated with HCC without cirrhosis and its prognosis. RESULTS: In the logistics regression analysis, compared to patients with HCC with cirrhosis, patients with HCC without cirrhosis were more likely to have elevated triglyceride (TG) levels (OR = 2.66; 95% CI, 1.18–6.01; P = 0.019). The Kaplan-Meier analysis revealed that a lower TG level was a risk factor regardless of the presence of cirrhosis. The results of the Cox proportional hazard regression analysis showed that a decreased TG level was significantly related to a worse overall survival (HR = 0.51; 95% CI, 0.29–0.89; P = 0.017). CONCLUSION: Serum TG level may be an independent factor to predict the prognosis of patients with HCC in the absence of cirrhosis. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s12944-018-0898-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.