Serum Hepatitis a Antibody Positivity Correlates with Higher Pancreas Cancer Mortality in Adults: Implications for Hepatitis Vaccination in High Risk Areas

Background: This study used pre-hepatitis A vaccination era data in U.S. to study the relationship between serum hepatitis A antibody positivity with pancreas cancer mortality in adults. Patients and Methods: Public use National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III) data were employed. NHANES III uses complex probabilistic methods to sample nationally representative samples. Household adult laboratory and mortality data were merged. Sample persons who were available to be examined in the Mobile Examination Center (MEC) were included in this study. All results were obtained by using specialized survey software taking into account the primary sampling unit and stratification variables and the weights assigned to the sample persons examined in the MEC. Thus they are representative of the U.S. population. Results: The mean risk (95%CI) of death in the study population for pancreas cancer was 0.0014 (-0.000069 -.0029); their mean age (95%CI) at the mobile examination center (MXPAXTMR) was 473.43 (463.85-482.10); the follow up in months from their medical examination (permth_exm) was 170.12 (164.17-176.07). The odds ratios (S.E.) of the statistically significant univariables were: age, 1.007 (1.005-1.009); serum anti-hepatitis antibody status, 0.038 (0.004-0.376); and drinking hard liquor, 1.014 (1.004-1.023). The coefficients (S.E.) of the statistically significant variables after multivariate analysis were 0.006 (0.002-0.010) for age and -2.528 (-4.945--0.111) for serum anti-hepatitis A antibody negativity (using serum anti-hepatitis A antibody positivity as a reference). Conclusion: Serum hepatitis A antibody positivity correlates with higher pancreas cancer mortality in adults.