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Risk factors for hepatocellular carcinoma in Northern Italy
Author(s) -
La Vecchia Carlo,
Negri Eva,
Decarli Adriano,
D'Avanzo Barbara,
Franceschi Silvia
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
international journal of cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.475
H-Index - 234
eISSN - 1097-0215
pISSN - 0020-7136
DOI - 10.1002/ijc.2910420614
Subject(s) - hepatocellular carcinoma , medicine , relative risk , cirrhosis , liver cancer , risk factor , confidence interval , gastroenterology , carcinoma
The role of socio‐demographic factors, lifestyle habits and selected dietary factors on the risk of hepatocellular carcinoma was evaluated in a hospital‐based case‐control study conducted in Northern Italy on 151 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma and 1,051 controls in hospital for acute, nonneoplastic or digestive conditions, unrelated to any of the known or potential risk factors for primary liver cancer. There were significant inverse relationships with levels of education and social class (relative risk, RR = 1.9 and 2.4 for lower vs. upper categories), and positive associations with clinical history of hepatitis (RR = 3.5, 95% confidence interval = 2.0–6.0) or liver cirrhosis (RR = 15.6, 95% CI = 8.3–29.4). The relative risk was not elevated in smokers and light or moderate alcohol drinkers, but the point estimate was above unity among heavy drinkers (RR = 1.5, 95% CI = 1.0–2.4). Among 14 food items considered, including important sources of vitamin A, protein and fats in the Italian diet, 5 were inversely and significantly related to liver cancer risk. This suggests that a diet deficient in several aspects may be related to hepatocellular carcinoma.