BACKGROUND & AIMS: Little is known about the absolute risk of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and liver-disease related death, in association with metabolic risk factors, for patients with hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection.

METHODS

We collected data from 5373 male Taiwanese civil servants who visited Taiwan's Government Employees' Central Clinics and received routine free physical examinations from 1989 through 1992. We obtained information on liver-related morbidity and mortality in HBV carriers, 40-65 years of age (n=1690), with different metabolic risk factors. We compared their medical histories with those of study participants without HBV or HCV infection in the same age range (n=1289). We used patients' baseline data on obesity, diabetes, hypertriglyceridemia, and high blood pressure to assign them to metabolic risk categories. We then performed a case-cohort analysis of the effects of hepatitis B viral factors on risk for HCC, based on metabolic factors and insulin resistance.

RESULTS

Over a median follow-up period of 19 years, 158 of the 1690 HBV carriers developed HCC and 126 died from liver-related diseases. Among participants without HBV or HCV infection, only 6 developed HCC or died from liver-related disease. HBV carriers with different metabolic risk factors had significant differences in cumulative incidence of HCC and liver-related death. Patients with 3 or more metabolic risk factors had a substantially higher risk for HCC (10-year cumulative incidence, 13.60%) than patients with a low metabolic risk profile (10-year cumulative incidence, 4.83%; adjusted-hazard ratio, 2.32; 95% CI, 1.18-4.54). Smoking had a significant effect on this association (P = .0044). Having 3 or more metabolic risk factors, compared with no factors, significantly increased the risk of HCC (adjusted-hazard ratio, 5.06; 95% CI, 2.23-11.47) and 10-year cumulative incidence of HCC (25.0% in smokers with 3 or more metabolic risk factors vs 3.87% in smokers with none; P < .0001) in smokers, but did not increase risk of HCC in nonsmokers. Metabolic risk factors and insulin resistance had the largest effect on HCC risk in patients with levels of HBV-DNA <10,000 copies/mL.

CONCLUSIONS

In a study of men with chronic HBV infection ages 40-65 years in Taiwan, we associated a high burden of metabolic risk factors with increased risk of HCC; smoking has a significant effect on this association.