Liver Cirrhosis More Common than Previously Thought

Amy Taylor January 07, 2015

Liver cirrhosis is more common than previously thought. Furthermore, 69 per cent of the adults identified as possibly having cirrhosis may not know they have this disease, a new study suggests.

Cirrhosis is end-stage scarring of the liver, and its symptoms include jaundice, fatigue, bleeding or bruising easily, nausea, swelling and confusion. Unfortunately, many people who have cirrhosis don’t have any symptom, which makes it less likely for them to get treated on a timely manner.

In the new study, researchers from Public Health Sciences of Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine made estimated the prevalence of cirrhosis in the general population. They examined data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), an annual survey of a representative sample of U.S. adults conducted by the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

The prevalence of cirrhosis was approximately 0.27 percent, which corresponds to 633,323 adults in the United States. Previous best-guess estimates pegged the number of adults with cirrhosis at about 400,000.

Researchers found that people with cirrhosis had a mortality rate of 26.4 percent during a two-year interval, compared with an 8.4 percent two-year mortality rate among similarly matched adults who did not have cirrhosis. Compared with the general population, people with cirrhosis tended to be older. Men were more at risk for cirrhosis than women. Prevalence was higher among poor people and people without a domestic partner. Prevalence declined with increasing levels of education. Furthermore, a quarter of people with cirrhosis reported they drank alcohol in excess during the prior year, and nearly half tested positive for the hepatitis C virus.

Due to the study limitations, experts say the prevalence of cirrhosis is higher than what the new findings suggest.

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Liver cirrhosis more common than previously thought, study finds