Risk Factors for Gallbladder Cancer in Nepal - a Case Control Study

Background: Gall bladder cancer (GBC) is highly fatal disease with poor prognosis, with a 5 year survival rate of <10%. It is relatively rare cancer worldwide; however it is the sixth cancer and second most common gastrointestinal tract cancer in Nepalese women. The study focused on associations of certain demographic, lifestyle, dietary, and reproductive factors with gall bladder cancer. Materials and Methods: We conducted a hospital-based matched case control study on newly diagnosed cases of primary GBC at BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences and BP Koirala Memorial Cancer Hospital. Controls were healthy non-GBC relatives of cancer patients, matched for age, sex and marital status (in case of females) with cases at a ratio of 1:2. Data were collected between April 2012-April 2013 by semi structured interview from both cases and controls. Analyses were carried out with SPSS. Conditional logistic regression was used to find odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals for bivariate and multivariate analysis. Results: A total of 50 cases and 100 controls were enrolled in this study. On bivariate analysis, factors found to be significantly associated with gallbladder cancer were illiteracy (OR=3.29, CI=1.06-10.2), history of gallstone disease (OR=27.6, CI=6.57, 115.6), current smoker (OR=2.42, CI=1.005-5.86), early menarche <13 years (OR=2.64, CI=1.09-6.44), high parity more than 3 (OR=3.12, CI=1.25,7.72), and use of mustard oil (OR=3.63, CI=1.40, 9.40). A significant protective effect was seen with high consumption of fruits at least once a week (OR=0.101, CI=0.03-0.35). On multivariate analysis, history of gallstone disease, early menarche, current smoker and high consumption of fruits persisted as significant factors. Conclusions: History of gallstone disease, cigarette smoking and early menarche were associated with increased risk of gallbladder cancer while high consumption of fruits was found to have a protective effect.