Analysis of the risk factors for primary liver cancer in Shunde region, Guangdong

Objective To explore the risk factors of primary liver cancer in Shunde, Guangdong, and to provide scientific basis for prevention of liver cancer. Methods A frequency-matched case-control study was conducted, including 757 liver cancer cases and 1 061 controls. The non-conditional Logistic regression model was applied to explore the potential risk factors. Results There were no significant differences in distribution of sex and age between cases and controls (P>0.05). As shown by the multivariate Logistic regression analysis, the factors associated with the risk of liver cancer included chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection (OR=25.82,95% CI:18.11-36.83,P<0.001), family history of cancer (OR=2.58,95% CI:1.72-3.88,P<0.001), smoking (OR=2.92,95% CI:2.01-4.26,P<0.001), alcohol drinking (OR=1.93,95% CI:1.34-2.79,P<0.001), drinking river water or ditch pond water (OR=3.82,95% CI:2.72-5.35,P<0.001), eating raw fish (OR=2.47,95% CI:1.47-4.12,P=0.001), eating pickled food (OR=2.57,95% CI:1.86-3.55,P<0.001), tea drinking (OR=0.21,95% CI:0.14-0.30,P<0.001) and in-service status (OR=0.34,95% CI:0.23-0.50,P<0.001). Conclusions Chronic HBV infection, family history of cancer, smoking, alcohol drinking, drinking river water or ditch-pond water, eating raw fish and eating pickled food are the risk factors for primary liver cancer, while tea drinking and in-service status may be protective factors.