HBV, HCV Coinfection Increases Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma Risk in HIV

HealthDay News — Chronic coinfection with hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) is associated with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) among patients with HIV receiving antiretroviral treatment (ART), according to a study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.¹

Qing Wang, PhD, from the University Hospital Basel in Switzerland, and colleagues conducted a cohort study to examine whether chronic HBV and HCV infection correlate with increased incidence of NHL in HIV-infected patients using data from 18 of 33 cohorts from the Collaboration of Observational HIV Epidemiological Research Europe. Data were included for 52,479 treatment-naive patients (2.6% and 14.3% with chronic HBV infection and HCV infection, respectively); 77% of these patients started ART.

The researchers found that 252 treatment-naive and 310 treated patients developed NHL (incidence rates of 219 and 168 per 100,000 person-years, respectively). The hazard ratios for NHL were 1.33 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.69 to 2.56) for HBV infection and 0.67 (95% CI, 0.40 to 1.12) for HCV infection in treatment-naive patients, and 1.74 (95% CI, 1.08 to 2.82) and 1.73 (95% CI, 1.21 to 2.46), respectively, for treated patients.

“In HIV-infected patients receiving ART, chronic coinfection with HBV and HCV is associated with an increased risk for NHL,” the authors write.

Several authors disclosed financial ties to the biopharmaceutical industry.

Reference

1. Wang Q, De Luca A, Smith C, et al. Chronic hepatitis B and C virus infection and risk for non-hodgkin lymphoma in HIV-infected patients: a cohort study. Ann Intern Med. 2016 Oct 18. doi: 10.7326/M16-0240. [Epub ahead of print]