Prevalence and Risk Factors for Non-Hepatic Cancers in Cirrhosis: A Cross-Sectional Study

BackgroundPatients with liver cirrhosis are at a higher risk of developing non-hepatic cancers (NHC) than general population. Considering that NHC causes poor outcomes, it is necessary to explore the prevalence of NHC in such patients and identify its associated risk factors.MethodsPatients with a diagnosis of liver cirrhosis who were consecutively admitted to our hospital between January 1, 2010 and June 30, 2014 were retrospectively screened. They were divided into NHC, primary liver cancer (PLC), and non-cancer groups. After adjusting for age and sex, logistic regression analyses were performed to explore the risk factors of NHC in patients with cirrhosis. Adjusted odds ratios (aORs) with their 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated.ResultsOverall, 2509 patients with cirrhosis were included. Prevalence of NHC and PLC was 6.22% (156/2509) and 22.20% (557/2509), respectively. After adjusting for age and sex, the NHC group had a significantly higher proportion of history of smoking (aOR = 1.994; 95% CI = 1.231-3.231, P = 0.005), but lower proportions of history of encephalopathy (aOR = 0.344; 95% CI = 0.147- 0.804, P = 0.014) and history of heart disease (aOR = 0.300; 95% CI = 0.173-0.519, P < 0.001) as compared to the non-cancer group. Hepatitis B virus infection (aOR = 0.863; 95% CI = 0.581-1.281, P = 0.465), hepatitis C virus infection (aOR = 0.908; 95% CI = 0.503-1.642, P = 0.750), and alcohol abuse alone (aOR = 1.254; 95% CI = 0.779-2.017, P = 0.351) as the etiology of liver cirrhosis were not significantly associated with the risk of NHC.ConclusionsSmoking may be associated with a higher probability of NHC in patients with cirrhosis, but the probability of NHC may be compromised by encephalopathy or heart disease.