ALB and hepatocellular carcinoma: First, the study is retrospective in nature and was conducted using a health insurance claims database lacking information on certain risk factors for HCC, such as anthropometric information (including body mass index and waist circumference), laboratory findings assessing hepatic reserve function (e.g., Child-Pugh or modified albumin-bilirubin grade), clinical staging such as the BCLC staging system, and clinical details related to cirrhosis complications (such as ascites, hepatic encephalopathy, and variceal bleeding).