title: Chronic hepatitis B virus infection and risk of pancreatic cancer: a meta-analysis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  A number of studies have shown that chronic hepatitis B virus infection is implicated in susceptibility to pancreatic cancer. However, the results are still controversial. This meta-analysis aimed to quantitatively assess the relationship between chronic hepatitis B virus infection and incidence of pancreatic cancer of cohort and case-control studies.
  
  
  METHODS
  A literature search was performed for entries from 1990 to 2012 using PUBMED and EMBASE. Studies were included if they reported odds ratios (ORs) and corresponding 95% CIs of pancreatic cancer with respect to the infection of hepatitis B virus.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Eight studies met the inclusion criteria, which included five case-control studies and three cohort studies. Compared with individuals who have not infection of hepatitis B virus, the pooled OR of pancreatic cancer was 1.403 (95%CI: 1.139-1.729, P=0.001) for patients with hepatitis B virus infection. Sub-group analysis by study design showed that the summary OR was 1.43 (95%CI: 1.06-1.94, P=0.021) when pooling case-control studies and 1.31 (95%CI: 1.00- 1.72, P=0.05) when pooling cohort studies.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Findings from this meta-analysis suggest that chronic hepatitis B virus infection may increase the risk of pancreatic cancer. This relationship needs to be confirmed by further follow-up studies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, Shandong Provincial Hospital, Shandong University, Jinan, China.
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Bo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Li-Bo
authors.initials: LB
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Guan-Cheng
authors.initials: GC
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.forename: Ji-Yong
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D016022:Case-Control Studies; D015331:Cohort Studies; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D006515:Hepatitis B virus; D019694:Hepatitis B, Chronic / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D016017:Odds Ratio; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology; D012307:Risk Factors