Identifying Subgroups and Influencing Factors of Postoperative Patients with Liver Cancer

Objective: To explore the latent classes of postoperative symptoms and their influencing factors in patients with primary liver cancer. Methods: A convenience sampling method was used to select 280 liver cancer patients who underwent surgery at a tertiary hospital in Haikou from January 2023 to January 2025. Data were collected using a general information questionnaire and the Chinese version of the Anderson Symptom Assessment Scale. Latent class analysis was employed to identify the potential categories of symptoms, and univariate analysis and multivariate logistic regression analysis were used to explore the influencing factors for each latent category. Results: Postoperative symptoms in liver cancer patients could be classified into three latent categories: a high-symptom group (52.0%), a high-gastrointestinal symptom group (36.1%), and a low-symptom group (11.9%). Educational level and liver function grade were found to be influencing factors for the latent symptom categories in these patients. Conclusion: The postoperative symptoms of liver cancer patients exhibit heterogeneity. Patients with lower educational levels are more likely to belong to the high-symptom group, while those with Child-Pugh class B were more prone to the high gastrointestinal symptom group. Clinical healthcare providers should effectively identify the latent characteristics of different categories and implement targeted interventions to alleviate the symptom burden of these patients.