Patients who take aspirin may significantly reduce their risk of hepatitis B (HBV)-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), according to a study presented at the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) The Liver Meeting 2017.
Previous studies suggest that aspirin may prevent the development of various cancer types, but data in regards to its efficacy in reducing the risk of HBV-associated HCC is limited.
For this cohort study, researchers accessed an insurance research database to collect data from 204,507 patients with chronic HBV, excluding patients who had other types of infectious hepatitis. Patients who had HCC before the follow-up index date were excluded, and 1553 patients who have been taking daily aspirin for at least 90 days were randomly matched 1:4 with 6212 patients who had never undergone antiplatelet therapy.
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The results showed that patients in the aspirin arm had a significantly lower 5-year cumulative incidence of HCC compared with patients in the untreated arm (2.86% vs 5.59%; P <.001).
A multivariable regression analysis performed by the researchers revealed an independent association between aspirin therapy and the reduced risk of HCC (hazard ratio [HR], 0.63; 95% CI, 0.47-0.85; P =.002).
Older age, cirrhosis, male gender, and diabetes mellitus were found to be independently associated with an increased risk of HCC, but statin use and nucleos(t)ide analogue (NA) use was associated with a decreased risk.
Reference
Lee TY, H YC, Yu SH, et al. Association of aspirin therapy with reduced risk of hepatocellular carcinoma in patients with chronic hepatitis B. Oral presentation at: AASLD The Liver Meeting 2017; October 20-24, 2017; Washington, DC. Abstract OA.223.
