Effect of alcohol, cigarette smoking, and diabetes on occurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma in patients with transfusion-acquired hepatitis C virus infection who develop cirrhosis.

Aim: Alcohol drinking, cigarette smoking, and diabetes have been claimed as risk factors for hepatocellular carcinoma in case-control studies. The aim of this study was to define the impact of these risk factors on the development of hepatocellular carcinoma in hepatitis C virus-related liver cirrhosis.

Methods: A historical cohort of 138 patients with posttransfusion hepatitis C virus-related cirrhosis was selected by reviewing all files of patients referred to our liver unit. Sixty-three of them (46%) developed hepatocellular carcinoma.

Results: At univariate analysis, risk factors for hepatocellular carcinoma were observed in patients aged above 59 years [P=0.004; relative risk (RR): 2.08, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.19-3.68], male sex (P<0.001; RR: 2.48, 95% CI: 1.59-3.87), habit of alcohol drinking (P=0.001; RR: 1.89, 95% CI: 1.24-2.88), and duration of alcohol consumption of more than 30 years (P=0.02; RR: 2.08, 95% CI: 0.98-4.40). At Cox regression analysis, only male sex was an independent predictive factor (beta=0.86; P=0.002; hazard ratio=2.4, 95% CI: 1.3-4.1).

Conclusion: Diabetes, smoking, and alcohol drinking were not independently related to the risk of developing hepatocellular carcinoma in hepatitis C virus-related cirrhosis.