Hepatitis C infection and renal cell carcinoma: A systematic review and meta-analysis

AIM: To investigate the association between hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and risk of renal cell carcinoma (RCC). METHODS: A literature search was performed from inception until February 2016. Studies that reported relative risks, odd ratios, hazard ratios or standardized incidence ratio comparing the risk of RCC among HCV-infected participants vs those without HCV infection were included. Participants without HCV infection were used as comparators. Pooled odds ratios and 95%CI were calculated using a random-effect, generic inverse variance method. RESULTS: Seven observational studies were with 196826 patients were included in the analysis to assess the risk of RCC in patients with HCV. A significantly increased risk of RCC among participants with HCV infection was found with a pooled RR of 1.86 (95%CI: 1.11-3.11). The association between RCC and HCV was marginally insignificant after a sensitivity analysis limited only to studies with adjusted analysis, with a pooled RR of 1.50 (95%CI: 0.93-2.42). CONCLUSION: Our study demonstrated a potential association between HCV infection and RCC. Further studies of RCC surveillance in patients with HCV are required.