• Tyng-Yuan Jang, Chi-Chang Ho, Chih-Da Wu, Chia-Yen Dai, and Pau-Chung Chen.
• Ph.D. Program in Environmental and Occupational Medicine, College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University and National Health Research Institutes, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, ROC.
• J Chin Med Assoc. 2024 Mar 1; 87 (3): 287291287-291.

BackgroundAir pollution is a risk factor for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, the effect of air pollution on HCC risk in patients with hepatitis remains unclear.MethodsThis cross-sectional study recruited 348 patients with chronic hepatitis who were tested for serum hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and for antibodies against hepatitis B core antigen (HBcIgG) and hepatitis C virus (anti-HCV) in 2022. The diagnosis of HCC was based on the International Classification of Diseases, 10th revision (ICD-10). Daily estimates of air pollutants were aggregated into mean estimates for the previous year based on the date of recruitment or HCC diagnosis.ResultsOut of 348 patients, 12 had HCC (3.4%). Patients with HCC were older (71.7 vs 50.9 years; p = 0.004), had higher proportion of HBsAg seropositivity (41.7% vs 5.1%; p < 0.001), and substantially higher levels of particulate matter 2.5 (PM 2.5 ) (21.5 vs 18.2 μg/m 3 ; p = 0.05). Logistic regression analysis revealed that the factors associated with HCC were age (odds ratio [OR]: 1.10; CI, 1.03-1.17; p = 0.01), PM 2.5 level (OR: 1.51; CI, 1.02-2.23; p = 0.04), and HBsAg seropositivity (OR: 6.60; CI, 1.51-28.85; p = 0.01) ( Table 3 ). There was a combined effect of PM 2.5 and HBsAg seropositivity on the risk of HCC development (OR: 22.17; CI, 3.33-147.45; p = 0.001).ConclusionIn this study, we demonstrated that PM 2.5 and HBsAg seropositivity were associated with HCC occurrence and had synergistic effects after adjusting for confounding factors.Copyright © 2024, the Chinese Medical Association.

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