Journal
CANCER EPIDEMIOLOGY BIOMARKERS & PREVENTION
Volume 28, Issue 11, Pages 1876-1883Publisher
AMER ASSOC CANCER RESEARCH
DOI: 10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-19-0023
Keywords
-
Funding
- Innovation and Policy Centre for Population Health and Sustainable Environment (Population Health Research Centre, PHRC), National Taiwan University College of Public Health from the Featured Areas Research Centre Program within the framework of the Higher
- Ministry of Science and Technology [MOST106-2918-I-002-016, MOST-107-3017-F-002-003, MOST-108-3017-F-002-001]
- Featured Areas Research Center Program within the framework of the Higher Education Sprout Project by the Ministry of Education (MOE) in Taiwan [NTU-107L9003, NTU-108L9003]
- Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Chiayi Branch [CLRPG6G0041]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Background: We investigated the association between taking herbal medicine (HM) containing aristolochic acid (AA) and the risk of primary liver cancer (PLC) among patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. Methods: This is a prospective study for the long-term follow-up of a nationwide population-based cohort of patients ages 18 years or older diagnosed with HCV infection during 1997 to 2010. A total of 223,467 HCV-infected patients were identified using the National Health Insurance Research Database in Taiwan. The use of HM containing AA was evaluated among patients who had visited traditional Chinese medicine clinics beginning from 1997 to 1 year prior to the diagnosis of PLC or dates censored (2003). We tracked each individual patient from 1997 to 2013 to identify incident cases of PLC since 1999. Results: During the follow-up period of 3,052,132 person-years, we identified 25,502 PLC cases; this corresponded to an overall incidence rate of 835.5 PLCs per 100,000 person-years. The adjusted HRs were 1.21 [95% confidence interval (CI), 1.18-1.24], 1.48 (95% CI, 1.37-1.59), 1.50 (95% CI, 1.34-1.68), and 1.88 (95% CI, 1.61-2.19) for estimated AA usage groups: 1 to 250, 251 to 500, 501 to 1,000, and more than 1,000 mg, respectively, relative to no AA exposure (reference group). Conclusions: The current findings suggest that among HCV-positive patients, increasing exposure to AA poses an increased risk of acquiring PLC. Impact: AA may increase the risk of PLC in HCV-positive populations.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available