Study Finds No Increased Risk of Pancreatic Cancer From Hepatitis B

In contradiction to a study in 2008 that suggested a link between pancreatic cancer and previous hepatitis B infection, researchers have now found that hepatitis B does not increase the risk for pancreatic cancer.

Hepatitis B is an inflammation of the liver caused by a viral infection. An estimated 800,000 to 1.4 million people have chronic hepatitis B infection, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2007, an estimated 43,000 people in the United States were newly infected with hepatitis B, although many cases are not reported because many people do not have symptoms.

Physicians looked at data from more than 74,000 patients who were tested for hepatitis B between 1995 and 2008. In the overall analysis, only age was found to be a significant predictor for pancreatic cancer.

"We looked at the incidence of pancreatic cancer among hepatitis B infected patients over a 13-year period and found that we could not confirm a higher risk for those with a previous exposure to hepatitis B, as a prior study suggested," says Jeffrey Tang, lead author of the study.

"When other factors are considered, such as age, race, sex, HIV status, and the presence of diabetes, only older age and presence of diabetes proved significant, whereas prior exposure to hepatitis B was no longer an important variable."

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References:
1. Jeffrey Tang, et al. Henry Ford Health System.