Hepatitis B and C virus infection as risk factors for hepatocellular carcinoma in Chinese: a case-control study.

To assess whether hepatitis B and C virus infection were risk factors for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), antibody to hepatitis C virus (anti-HCV), hepatitis B surface antigen and e antigen (HBsAg and HBeAg) were tested in 150 HCC patients. Another 150 case-control pairs matched individually by sex and age were also enrolled. Univariate analysis demonstrated that both the anti-HCV and the carrier status of HBsAg and HBeAg were significantly associated with HCC. Multi-variate analysis revealed that both anti-HCV and HBsAg were risk factors for HCC. The population-attributable risk was estimated as 14.2% for anti-HCV alone, 59.4% for HBsAg alone and 8.0% for both anti-HCV and HBsAg in Taiwan. In conclusion, both hepatitis B and C virus infection are independent risk factors for HCC in Chinese in southern Taiwan.