%0 Journal Article
%T Association between chronic viral hepatitis infection and breast cancer risk: a nationwide population-based case-control study
%A Fu-Hsiung Su
%A Shih-Ni Chang
%A Pei-Chun Chen
%A Fung-Chang Sung
%A Chien-Tien Su
%A Chih-Ching Yeh
%J BMC Cancer
%D 2011
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1471-2407-11-495
%X From the claims data, we identified 1,958 patients with newly diagnosed breast cancer during the period 2000-2008. A randomly selected, age-matched cohort of 7,832 subjects without cancer was selected for comparison. Multivariable logistic regression models were constructed to calculate odds ratios of breast cancer associated with viral hepatitis after adjustment for age, residential area, occupation, urbanization, and income. The age-specific (<50 years and ¡Ý50 years) risk of breast cancer was also evaluated.There were no significant differences in the prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, hepatitis B virus (HBV), or the prevalence of combined HBC/HBV infection between breast cancer patients and control subjects (p = 0.48). Multivariable logistic regression analysis, however, revealed that age <50 years was associated with a 2-fold greater risk of developing breast cancer (OR = 2.03, 95% CI = 1.23-3.34).HCV infection, but not HBV infection, appears to be associated with early onset risk of breast cancer in areas endemic for HCV and HBV. This finding needs to be replicated in further studies.Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers and the leading cause of death in women worldwide [1]. Over the past several decades, the incidence of breast cancer has increased globally [2,3], with the greatest increase occurring in Asian countries [2,4,5]. Risk factors for breast cancer include benign breast disease, fertility, obesity, particularly after menopause, familial and genetic factors, and oral contraceptive use [6-9]. The etiology and progression of breast cancer remain incompletely understood; therefore, novel routes of disease pathogenesis are important to consider.Richardson proposed that breast cancer risk may be associated with late exposure to common viruses [10]. Zur Hausen stated that approximately 19% of the global cancer burden can be linked to five infectious agents, namely Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), human Papillomaviruses (HPV), hepatitis B vi
%U http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2407/11/495