Association between Family History of Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC) and Risk of HCC in Korea, a Hepatitis B Virus Endemic Area = Association between Family History of Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC) and Risk of HCC in Korea, a Hepatitis B Virus Endemic Area

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Aims: Familial predisposition as a risk factor for HCC has been reported worldwide. Especially, family clustering of HCC has been well-known in eastern Asian countries including Korea, a hepatitis B virus (HBV) endemic area. However, it is uncertain how much family history (FHx) of HCC increases HCC risk in Korea. We investigated the role of FHx of HCC on the risk of HCC in a single center cohort.
Methods: We carried out cohort study in National Cancer Center, Korea, involving consecutive 733 patients who were diagnosed HCC and 121 confirmed benign tumor as controls between January 2014 and March 2017. All subjects filled out a questionnaire for FHx of HCC at the first visit to the clinic. Odds ratio (OR) and the corresponding 95% confidence interval (CI) of HCC for FHx of HCC were obtained from univariable logistic regression analysis. We also analized age, sex, smoking, alcohol drinking, diabetes mellitus(DM), hypertension(HTN), body mass index (BMI), HBV/HCV positivity, and presence of cirrhosis for HCC risk factors.
Results: First-degree relatives (FDR; parent, sibling, child) of case subjects were more likely to have HCC (OR 4.135; 95% CI 1.978-8.647, p <0.001) than FDR of control subjects. Affected type and number of FDR with HCC were not statistically significant in HCC development. In subgroup analysis, HCC patients with FDR who had HCC presented HCC at earlier age than those who did not (mean 56.5 vs 59.5 years, p <0.001). Univariate analysis showed that men, heavy smoker, heavy drinker, DM, hypertension, HBV/hepatitis C virus (HCV) positivity and cirrhosis were also increased a risk of HCC.
Conclusions: FDR FHx of HCC increased risk of HCC and was associated with earlier development of HCC in the Korean.