Effect of Hepatitis C Virus Infection on the Risk of Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma in Thailand

ABSTRACT

Although a high prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection among non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) patients had been reported, subsequent epidemiological studies conducted to examine a casual association between HCV and NHL have provided inconsistent results across studies. The risk of lymphoma associated with the detection of HCV infection was estimated. Two hundred and sixty nine cases with histopathologically confirmed NHL and 334 controls were included during 2006-2007 in 4 cancer centers in Thailand. All participants underwent a personal interview and blood sampling. Unconditional logistic regression were used to estimate the odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (95% CI) for NHL associated with HCV. HCV infection were detected in 6/269 (2.2%) among cases and in 6/334 (1.8%) among control subjects. HCV infection showed no association with NHL, OR=1.22 (95% CI=0.38-3.94).In conclusion, no direct correlation can be deduced between NHL and HCV infection in our study.