Association of hepatitis B virus infection with head and neck cancer: a propensity-matched study

Abstract

Abstract Objective This work focused on investigating the relation between hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection with head and neck cancer (HNC), identifying the associated risk factors and providing a reference for preventing and treating HNC. Methods Retrospective analysis was conducted on 1,572 HNC cases who were hospitalized between January 2009 and December 2020. Meanwhile, 58,409 individuals with non-oncological illnesses from the departments of oral and maxillofacial surgery, psychiatry, neurology and cardiology were recruited as controls. R software was utilized for data processing. Clinical data were processed using SPSS 22.0, while baseline radiotherapy data were balanced with 1:4 propensity score matching (PSM). Results In this study, 1:4 PSM was completed in 1,572 HNC patients and 6,288 controls. In comparison with controls, HNC cases had a markedly increased HBsAg positivity rate (5.9% vs 3.5%, p<0.001). Additionally, the HBsAb positivity rate of HNC cases remarkably decreased relative to controls (52.9% vs 58.7%, p<0.001). Conclusions HBV infection was positively related to HNC, while HBsAb was negatively correlated with HNC.