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Alcohol consumption as A risk factor for hepatocellular carcinoma in urban Southern African blacks
Author(s) -
Mohamed Abdulla E.,
Kew Michael C.,
Groeneveld Hendrik T.
Publication year - 1992
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.2910510406
Subject(s) - medicine , risk factor , hepatocellular carcinoma , odds ratio , alcohol abuse , hepatitis b virus , confidence interval , prospective cohort study , hepatitis b , demography , surgery , immunology , virus , psychiatry , sociology
Our purpose was to ascertain whether alcohol abuse is a risk factor for the development of hepatocellular carcinoma in urban southern African blacks and, if so, to relate alcohol consumption to other possible risk factors such as persistent hepatitis‐B‐virus infection, smoking, male sex, in this subpopulation. A prospective, hospitalbased, casecontrol format involving 101 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma and 101 controls was used. The mean age of the patients was 53.7 ± 1.85 years and the male:female ratio 3.2:1. An increased risk was found, but only in urban men over the age of 40 years who habitually drank more than 80 g of ethanol daily. The risk remained after adjusting for chronic hepatitis‐B infection, smoking, and sex (odds ratio 4.4, 95% confidence interval 1.3 to 16.6; p = 0.003). Smoking proved not to be a risk factor, either alone or in concert with alcohol consumption. Hepatitis‐B infection was confirmed as a major risk in younger men and in women, but in urban men over the age of 40 years alcohol abuse was a greater risk. Current hepatitis‐B infection and alcohol abuse were additive risks. © 1992 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.