Hepatitis C increases Risk of Cancer

A recent study had found that people who are infected with hepatitis C virus are highly at more risk of developing different types of cancers including prostate, renal and liver cancer. The research also showed that cancer rates in patients suffering from hepatitis C virus were double compared with those people who did not have HCV.

The results of the study show that cancer rates increase in the cohort of hepatitis C patients compared with non-hepatitis C patients, both of which include and exclude liver cancers. The findings of the study do point to the suggestion that hepatitis C may be linked with an increased risk of cancer.

According to the study which was conducted at Kaiser Permanente, Southern California, an extrahepatic manifestation of HCV may be linked to an increased risk of cancer. The researchers had recorded all the diagnoses in patients over the age of 18 years with or without HPV during 2008-2012 and found that 2.213 cancer diagnoses were found in the HCV cohort during the five years and 1, 654 cancer diagnoses when liver cancer was excluded.

In the non-HCV cohort, about 84, 419 cancer diagnose were found to be present during the same five-year period and 83, 795 when liver cancer was excluded.

When all the forms of cancer are included, the rate jumps 2.5 times in the HCV cohort and the rate is two times higher when the researchers did not include any type of live cancer.

The researchers, had however, warned that it is necessary for findings to be interpreted with caution. The results had also been modified by confounding factors such as tobacco, obesity, alcohol abuse and diabetes.

The study had been presented at The International Liver Congress 2015 in Vienna, Austria.

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Source: Delhidailynews.com