Metabolic syndrome and hepatocellular carcinoma risk
Menée en Italie, cette étude (185 cas et 404 témoins) évalue l'association entre un syndrome métabolique et le risque de carcinome hépatocellulaire
Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has been associated to diabetes and obesity, but a possible association with the metabolic syndrome (MetS) and its potential interaction with hepatitis is open to discussion. Methods: We analysed data from an Italian case–control study, including 185 HCC cases and 404 controls. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were computed from unconditional logistic regression models. Results: Among the MetS components, diabetes and obesity (i.e, body mass index (BMI)30 kg m−2) were positively associated to HCC risk, with ORs of 4.33 (95% CI, 1.89–9.86) and 1.97 (95% CI, 1.03–3.79), respectively. The ORs for the MetS were 4.06 (95% CI, 1.33–12.38) defining obesity as BMI25, and 1.92 (95% CI, 0.38–9.76) defining it as BMI30. The risk increased with the number of MetS components, up to an almost four-fold excess risk among subjects with 2 MetS factors. Among subjects without chronic infection with hepatitis B and/or C, the OR for those with 2 MetS components was over six-fold elevated. There was no consistent association in subjects with serological evidence of hepatitis B and/or C infection. Conclusion: This study found that the risk of HCC increases with the number of MetS components in subjects not chronically infected with hepatitis viruses.