OBJECTIVES: Chronic hepatitis B (CHB) is an important cause of hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC). Several prior studies have found that statins and anti platelet agents are known to lower the risk of HCC. This study aimed to examine the relationship between statin or anti platelet agents and HCC in CHB patients.

METHODS: The claims data was provided by National Health Insurance Service of Korea. Study participants were treatment-naïve adult patients with CHB-infected from January 2005 through June 2015. We performed a retrospective analysis by univariable Cox proportional hazards model. univariable analyses showed that risk of HCC depending on exposure of statin or anti platelet agents.

RESULTS: A total of 834,824 treatment-naïve patients with CHB were included. During the study period, 15,481 (1.85%) developed hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The group with statin had a significantly lower risk of developing HCC (hazard ratio [HR], 0.65; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.62-0.69), compared to the group with non-statin. Non-significant results were appeared for risk of HCC between the anti platelet agents group and non-anti platelet agents groups(HR, 1.02; 95% CI, 0.99-1.06).

CONCLUSIONS: In a retrospective study of treatment-naïve patients with CHB infection, exposure of statin was associated with a significantly lower risk of developing HCC. However, it should be noted that cirrhotic patients tend to have a bleeding tendency and the long-term safety of statins has not been proven among these patients.