Alcohol and smoking habits in association with hepatocellular carcinoma risk

Abstract

We assessed hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) risk associated with smoking and alcohol consumption and their interactions, using both questionnaire data and objective serum biomarkers. Information on smoking and alcohol consumption was collected at baseline from 450,112 participants of the EPIC cohort, among whom 255 developed HCC after a median follow-up of 14 years. In a nested case–control subset of 108 HCC cases and 108 matched controls, known biomarkers of smoking (cotinine, nicotine) and habitual alcohol consumption (2-hydroxy-3-methylbutyric acid) were annotated from untargeted metabolomics features. Multivariable-adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) or odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were computed, and multiplicative and additive interaction parameters were calculated. Compared to never smokers, current smokers had a higher HCC risk (HR = 2.46, 95% CI = 1.77–3.43) dose-dependently with the number of cigarettes smoked per day (Ptrend