BackgroundStudies have observed an association between the ABO blood group and risk of certain malignancies. However, no studies of the association with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) risk are available. We conducted this hospital-based case-control study to examine the association with HCC in patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB).MethodsFrom January 2004 to December 2008, a total of 6275 consecutive eligible patients with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection were recruited. 1105 of them were patients with HBV-related HCC and 5,170 patients were CHB without HCC. Multivariate logistic regression models were used to investigate the association between the ABO blood group and HCC risk.ResultsCompared with subjects with blood type O, the adjusted odds ratio (AOR) for the association of those with blood type A and HCC risk was 1.39 [95% confidence interval (CI), 1.05–1.83] after adjusting for age, sex, type 2 diabetes, cirrhosis, hepatitis B e antigen, and HBV DNA. The associations were only statistically significant [AOR (95%CI) = 1.56(1.14–2.13)] for men, for being hepatitis B e antigen positive [AOR (95%CI) = 4.92(2.83–8.57)], for those with cirrhosis [AOR (95%CI), 1.57(1.12–2.20)], and for those with HBV DNA≤105copies/mL [AOR (95%CI), 1.58(1.04–2.42)]. Stratified analysis by sex indicated that compared with those with blood type O, those with blood type B also had a significantly high risk of HCC among men, whereas, those with blood type AB or B had a low risk of HCC among women.ConclusionsThe ABO blood type was associated with the risk of HCC in Chinese patients with CHB. The association was gender-related.

Background Outcome prediction for patients with sepsis may be conductive to early aggressive interventions. Numerous biomarkers and multiple scoring systems have been utilized in predicting outcomes, however, these tools were either expensive or inconvenient. We performed a meta-analysis to evaluate the prognostic role of red blood cell distribution width (RDW) in patients with sepsis. Methods The online databases of Embase, Web of science, Pubmed, Corchrane library, Chinese Wanfang database, CNKI database were systematically searched from the inception dates to June, 24th, 2020, using the keywords red cell distribution width and sepsis. The odds ratio (OR) or Hazards ratio (HR) with corresponding 95% confidence intervals (95%CI) were pooled to evaluate the association between baseline RDW and sepsis. A random-effects model was used to pool the data, and statistical heterogeneity between studies was evaluated using the I2 statistic. Sensitivity and subgroup analyses were performed to detect the publication bias and origin of heterogeneity. Results Eleven studies with 17,961 patients with sepsis were included in the meta-analysis. The pooled analyses indicated that increased baseline RDW was associated with mortality (HR = 1.14, 95%CI 1.09–1.20, Z = 5.78, P < 0.001) with significant heterogeneity (I2 = 80%, Pheterogeneity < 0.001). Similar results were found in the subgroup analysis stratified by site of infection, comorbidity, Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS) score, study design, patients’ country. The predefined subgroup analysis showed that NOS score may be the origin of heterogeneity. Conclusions For patients with sepsis, baseline RDW may be a useful predictor of mortality, patients with increased RDW are more likely to have higher mortality.

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BackgroundPrevious studies have focused on the association of miR-34 family members with carcinogenesis of many cancers, including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). It has been suggested that miR-34b/c polymorphism (rs4938723) is associated with susceptibility to HCC. In the present study, we performed a meta-analysis to systematically summarize the possible association between rs4938723 and the risk for HCC.Methodology/Principal FindingsWe conducted a search of case-control studies on the associations of rs4938723 with susceptibility to HCC in PubMed, EMBASE, ISI Web of Science, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, ScienceDirect, Wiley Online Library, Wangfang database in China, and Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure databases. Data from eligible studies were extracted for meta-analysis. HCC risk associated with rs4938723 was estimated by pooled odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs). 3 studies on rs4938723 were included in our meta-analysis. Our results showed that neither allele frequency nor genotype distribution of the rs4938723 was associated with risk for HCC in all genetic models.Conclusions/SignificanceThis meta-analysis suggests that rs4938723 is not associated with the risk of HCC. Well-designed studies with larger sample size and more ethnic groups are required to further validate the results.