Association of hepatitis B virus infection and allergy with the risk of gastrointestinal cancer

Abstract Purpose To investigate the association of hepatitis B virus infection and allergy with gastrointestinal carcinogenesis, to provide a basis for risk factor identification among gastrointestinal cancer(GICA) risk populations, and for studies concerning the CICA etiology. Methods Clinical data of 2,375 GICA patients hospitalized from 2009 to 2020 were retrospectively analyzed, with 48,496 non-oncologic patients in the departments of psychiatry, neurology and cardiology as controls, totaling 50,871 patients. The data were processed using R software and SPSS22.0 for 1:4 propensity score matching. Results Overall, HBsAg positivity rate was 3.3% for 50,871 patients. A total of 11,872 patients completed the 1:4 propensity score matching, including 2,375 patients with GICA and 9,497 controls. HBsAg positivity was 4.5% in the GICA group and 3.2% in the control group, showing a significant inter-group difference (P = 0.002, OR = 1.427, 95% CI: 1.138–1.789). The incidence of GICA among patients with a history of allergies was significantly lower at 5.9% (139/2352) than among those without such history at 17.1% (4,592/26,785), also showing a significant inter-group difference (P < 0.001, OR = 3.294, 95% CI: 2.767–3.921). Besides, the incidence of allergies among HBsAb-positive patients was 9.0% (923/10,246), which was high than that among HBsAb-negative patients 7.6% (732/9,591), with a significant inter-group difference between the two groups (P < 0.001). Conclusion HBV infection is positively associated with gastrointestinal carcinogenesis. HBsAb positivity is also positively correlated with allergy, while allergy is negatively correlated with gastrointestinal carcinogenesis. The exact mechanism underlying these associations deserves further clarification. In addition, HBsAg positivity rate in Southwest China is approximately 3.3%.