AASLD 2013: A Snapshot of Who Is Infected and Who Is Dying from Hepatitis B



— Christine M. Kukka, Project Manager, HBV Advocate

A study looked at the role hepatitis B played in deaths from cirrhosis and liver cancer worldwide and found that the infection was responsible for 45% of liver cancer deaths and 30% of cirrhosis deaths.
Hepatitis C causes 26% and 28% of cirrhosis and cancer deaths, respectively, and alcohol abuse causes one-quarter of the world's liver cancer and cirrhosis deaths.

Hepatitis C is the predominant cause of liver cancer/cirrhosis deaths in the U.S. (40/41%) with HBV infection predominating in cirrhosis and liver cancer deaths in China (54/46%) and India (48/35%). (1)
This data also yielded the finding that in 2010 in the U.S. there were approximately three-times as many deaths from viral hepatitis as there were HIV/AIDS infection. In Australia and Western Europe, 10-times as many people died from viral hepatitis than from HIV/AIDS.

These findings... "provide a unique opportunity to set global and local priorities for health, and address previous imbalances in addressing the major preventable causes of human death, among which hepatitis B and C must clearly now be counted," researchers wrote.(2)

A study of U.S. veterans who use VA clinics for health care found that when compared to the national average, veterans have twice the HBV exposure and infection rates. The rate of current hepatitis B infection and past (resolved) infection was 0.8% and 13.9% respectively among veterans. (3)

1. Control ID. 1738272 The global burden of liver disease attributable to hepatitis B, hepatitis C, and alcohol: increasing mortality, differing causes (Abstract #23)

2. Control ID 1737658. Shifting scales: comparing viral hepatitis and HIV/AIDS mortality data 1990-2010 in the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010 (Abstract #853)

3. Control ID 1740068. Elevated prevalence of hepatitis B chronic infection and exposure in users of United States. (Abstract #876)

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