Background: We investigated the clinical characteristics of hepatitis C virus (HCV) antibody-positive hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients who developed HCC at a relatively young age.
Methods: Clinical characteristics of patients in their 40s were investigated and were compared with those of patients 50 years and older. The subjects were 648 HCC patients, 469 men (72%) and 179 women (28%), who were treated at our hospital between 1991 and 1997.
Results: No patient was under 40 years of age. Eighteen patients (3%) were in their 40s, 137 patients (21%) were in their 50s, 338 patients (52%) were in their 60s, 143 patients (22%) were in their 70s, and 12 patients (2%) were in their 80s. Fifteen of the patients (83%) in their 40s were male. The proportion of men in their 40s was higher than that of all men. Eight of the 15 men in their 40s (53%) were heavy drinkers, and 2 (14%) were habitual drinkers. Three of the 15 men (20%) were HBV carriers, and these 3 HBV carriers were not drinkers. The proportion of heavy drinkers and HBV carriers was significantly higher among the patients in their 40s than in the 60 patients randomly sampled from the patients 50 years of age and older. The mean ages of male patients with HCC who were heavy drinkers, habitual drinkers, occasional drinkers, or nondrinkers were 52.3, 58.9, 62.0, and 61.7 years, respectively. HCC occurred significantly earlier in heavy drinkers than in the other 3 groups. We compared laboratory data of the patients in their 40s with data of all of the patients of 50 years and older. Serum total bilirubin, prothrombin time, and platelet counts were significantly worse in the patients in their 40s.
Conclusions: Logistic regression analysis revealed that heavy drinking and presence of HBV infection were independently related to HCV antibody-positive HCC development at a younger age.