According to a new study it was revealed that people infected with Hepatitis C virus (HCV) may be at increased risk of various forms of cancers. The survey has revealed that the cancer rates in patients with the hepatitis C virus (HCV) were more than double compared to those without HCV.

The main aim of the retrospective study conducted at Kaiser Permanente, Southern California, US was to describe the rates of all cancers in the cohort of HCV patients compared to the non-HCV population. The authors recorded all cancer diagnoses in patients over 18 years of age with or without HCV during 2008-2012.

Within the timeframe of the study 145,210 patient years were included in the HCV cohort, and 13,948,826 patient years were included in the non-HCV cohort. There were 2,213 cancer diagnoses (1,524/100,000) during the 5-year period in the HCV cohort and 1,654 cancer diagnoses when liver cancer was excluded (1,139/100,000).

In the non-HCV cohort there were 84,419 cancer diagnoses (605/100,000) during the same 5-year period and 83,795 (601/100,000) when liver cancer was excluded.

Finally when all cancers are considered the rate is 2.5 times higher in the HCV cohort; when liver cancers are excluded, the rate is still almost 2 times higher, researchers said.

"The results suggest that cancer rates are increased in the cohort of hepatitis C patients versus the non-hepatitis C patients, both including and excluding liver cancers," said senior author of the study Lisa Nyberg from the Kaiser Permanente, Southern California. “These findings certainly point to the suggestion that hepatitis C may be associated with an increased risk of cancer types like non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, renal and prostate cancers and liver cancers” he added.
The research was presented at the International Liver Congress 2015 in Vienna.

By Lizitha