Chronic Hepatitis B Virus Infection Associated with Increased Colorectal Cancer Risk in Taiwanese Population

Abstract

Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infections and colorectal cancer (CRC) are prevalent in Taiwan. We carried out a population-based case-control study to assess the association between HBV infection and CRC risk. Using the National Health Insurance Research Database of Taiwan, we identified 69,478 newly diagnosed patients with CRC from 2005 to 2011. We further randomly selected 69,478 age- and gender-matched controls without CRC from the same database. Odds ratios (ORs) were calculated to evaluate the association between chronic HBV infection and CRC using a logistic regression analysis. HBV infection was found to be associated with the risk of CRC (OR = 1.27, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.20–1.33). This relationship was similar in men and women. Age-specific analysis revealed that the CRC risk associated with HBV decreased with age. The adjusted ORs for patients aged <55, 55–64, and 65–74 years were 1.63 (95% CI = 1.48–1.79), 1.24 (95% CI = 1.13–1.37), and 1.02 (95% = 0.92–1.13), respectively. In conclusion, this study suggests that chronic HBV infection is significantly associated with an increased risk of CRC. Monitoring the risk of CRC development in young patients with HBV infection is crucial.

Rare tumors of the abdomen in children

“…Chronic liver disease and cirrhosis are the ninth leading causes of death; and liver cancer is the second leading causes of cancer death in Taiwan. [ 2 ] The main causes of chronic liver disease, cirrhosis and liver cancer in Taiwanese are viral hepatitis B (70%) and C (20%). For hepatitis B surface antigen bearing carriers with active hepatitis; about 15 to 20% of them develop cirrhosis with higher incidence of liver cancer.…”

Patients With Chronic Hepatitis C Virus Infection Are at an Increased Risk of Colorectal Cancer: A Nationwide Population-Based Case-Control Study in Taiwan

“…The insurance program covers nearly 99% of the Taiwanese citizens ( 22 ). Detailed information of the program is available in our previous studies ( 23 , 24 ). This research was approved by the Institutional Review Board of China Medical University and Hospital Research Ethics Committee (Institutional Review Board approval number: CMU-REC-101-012).…”

Gut eukaryotic virome in colorectal carcinogenesis: Is that a trigger?

“…Recently, the association between HBV infection and CRC was also strongly pointed out. Indeed, HBV infection was significantly associated with the risk of CRC in a cohort of Taiwanese subjects [108] . This study confirmed what was previously reported by Song and colleagues, who found HBV seropositive patients to display a higher CRC risk by comparison with the HBV negative subjects [109] .…”