Viral Hepatitis and Hepatocellular Carcinoma: A Case-Control Study

Abstract

Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma is the most common primary liver malignancy and cause of cancer-related death worldwide including Bangladesh. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between viral hepatitis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Methods: This age (±2 years) and sex matched case-control study was conducted from January to December 2021 with 60 cases and 60 controls. The participants with hepatocellular carcinoma were considered as cases where those who had no hepatocellular carcinoma were considered as controls. The participants were selected by convenient type of non-probability sampling from four hospitals in Dhaka city. After obtaining informed written consent from participants, data were collected by face-to-face interview and medical record reviewed by using a semi-structured questionnaire and checklist. Data processing and analysis was performed by the latest available version of SPSS software. Result: The mean±SD age of the cases was 52.83 ± 12.85 years and of controls was 52.58 ± 12.84 years. Significantly higher proportion of cases 78.3% lived in the rural area than controls 51.7% (p=0.002). The cases were more 86.7% from nuclear family than the controls 61.7% (p-=0.002). 80% cases had viral hepatitis than the controls 15% (p=0.000). HBV infection was significantly higher 70.0% in HCC patients than the control groups 8.3%, (OR:25.667, 95%CI: 8.812-74.762, p=0.000) and HCV infection was 10.0% in HCC patients than the controls 6.7%, (OR:1.556, 95%CI: 0.416-5.819, p=0.509) 63.3% cases had experienced other liver diseases than controls 8.3%, (OR:19.000, 95%CI: 6.613-54.589, p=0.000). Family history of hepatocellular carcinoma was significantly higher in 26.7% cases than 5.0% in controls (OR: 6.909, 95%CI: 1.894-25.208,p=0.001) and more than three-fourth of the cases 80% used tobacco than controls 30%, (OR: 9.333, 95%CI: 4.031-21.612, p=0.000). Conclusion: This study provides evidence that HBV infection was strongly associated ....