Global liver disease burdens and research trends: Analysis from a Chinese perspective.
Xiao Jia,Wang Fei,Wong Nai-Kei,He Jinhan,Zhang Rui,Sun Ruijuan,Xu Yanying,Liu Yingxia,Li Wei,Koike Kazuo,He Weiling,You Hong,Miao Yinglei,Liu Xiaowei,Meng Mingming,Gao Bin,Wang Hua,Li Cui
Journal of hepatology
Liver diseases affect millions of people worldwide. In most developed countries, the incidence of viral hepatitis is waning as a result of modern advances in disease prevention, diagnosis, and therapies. Expanded programmes for systematic immunisation against hepatitis B virus have also significantly brought down the number of new cases in many countries, including China. In contrast, with the improvement in living standards, the prevalence of metabolic liver diseases including non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and alcohol-related liver disease is set to rise, ultimately leading to more cases of end-stage liver diseases (liver failure, cirrhosis, and liver cancer). Over the past 30 years, visionary governments of major nations have provided strong incentives for basic/clinical research, vaccination programmes, and drug discovery and development in the field of hepatology. To get rid of her unflattering title as the "leader in liver diseases", China has also made a serious effort to initiate nationwide preventive measures for liver diseases, global partnerships, and mentoring programmes for young hepatologists. Instrumental to such progress is the continuous support of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), which has helped hepatology to thrive in virtually all research directions within the country. In this article, we seek to provide stimulating glimpses into the evolving liver disease epidemiology, institutional research profiles, funding landscape, and drug development trends in China, with an attempt to compare her status and achievements with those of the United States, European countries, and Japan.
10.1016/j.jhep.2019.03.004
The global burden of liver disease: the major impact of China.
Wang Fu-Sheng,Fan Jian-Gao,Zhang Zheng,Gao Bin,Wang Hong-Yang
Hepatology (Baltimore, Md.)
Liver disease is a major cause of illness and death worldwide. In China alone, liver diseases, primarily viral hepatitis (predominantly hepatitis B virus [HBV]), nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, and alcoholic liver disease, affect approximately 300 million people. The establishment of the Expanded Program on Immunization in 1992 has resulted in a substantial decline in the number of newly HBV-infected patients; however, the number of patients with alcoholic and nonalcoholic fatty liver diseases is rising at an alarming rate. Liver cancer, one of the most deadly cancers, is the second-most common cancer in China. Approximately 383,000 people die from liver cancer every year in China, which accounts for 51% of the deaths from liver cancer worldwide. Over the past 10 years, China has made some significant efforts to shed its "leader in liver diseases" title by investing large amounts of money in funding research, vaccines, and drug development for liver diseases and by recruiting many Western-trained hepatologists and scientists. Over the last two decades, hepatologists and scientists in China have made significant improvements in liver disease prevention, diagnosis, management, and therapy. They have been very active in liver disease research, as shown by the dramatic increase in the number of publications in Hepatology. Nevertheless, many challenges remain that must be tackled collaboratively. In this review, we discuss the epidemiology and characteristics of liver diseases and liver-related research in China.
10.1002/hep.27406
The global burden of cirrhosis: A review of disability-adjusted life-years lost and unmet needs.
Jepsen Peter,Younossi Zobair M
Journal of hepatology
Cirrhosis is a burden on the individual and on public health. The World Health Organization's metric of public health burden is the disability-adjusted life-year (DALY), the sum of years of life lost due to premature death and years of life lived with disability. The more DALYs attributable to a disease, the greater its burden on public health. Cirrhosis was responsible for 26.8% fewer DALYs in 2019 than in 1990, which is positive, but the reduction in DALYs across the spectrum of diseases in and outside the liver was 34.4%. Hepatitis C (26% of DALYs), alcohol (24%), and hepatitis B (23%) contribute almost equally to the global burden of cirrhosis. The contribution from non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (8%) is small but increasing. There is substantial global variation in the burden and causes of cirrhosis. We find that the poorest countries carry the greatest burden of cirrhosis, and that this burden is primarily caused by cirrhosis from hepatitis B infection. Interventions targeting hepatitis B infection are known, but not fully implemented. In more affluent countries, alcohol and hepatitis C are the dominant causes of cirrhosis, but non-alcoholic fatty liver will likely become a dominant cause of cirrhosis in parallel with the increasing prevalence of obesity. We also argue that the World Health Organization underestimates the public health burden associated with cirrhosis because it assigns zero disability to compensated cirrhosis and considers decompensated cirrhosis as only mildly disabling.
10.1016/j.jhep.2020.11.042
[Trend analysis on the disease burden related to cirrhosis and other chronic liver diseases caused by hepatitis B, in China, from 1990 to 2016].
Zhang L,Fan Z F,Liu D W,Zhou M G,Wang Z Q,Li M
Zhonghua liu xing bing xue za zhi = Zhonghua liuxingbingxue zazhi
The aim of this study was to analyze the disease burden of cirrhosis and other chronic liver diseases caused by hepatitis B in China, from 1990 to 2016, and to provide evidence for the development of related strategies. Data were collected from the results of the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016 (GBD2016). We analyzed the current epidemiological patterns by calculating the prevalence, mortality, and disability adjusted life year (DALY) of cirrhosis and other chronic liver diseases, caused by hepatitis B during 1990 and 2016 in China. Compared with data from 1990, the number of patients and deaths with cirrhosis and other chronic liver diseases caused by hepatitis B in 2016 increased by 79.6 and 2.4, respectively. The prevalence increased by 49.2, higher (50.3) in males than that (42.3) in females. Compared with other age groups, the increase (33.2) of prevalence appeared the fastest, in the 15-49 age group. In males, the number of deaths and DALYs increased by 13.6 and 2.2, respectively. In 2016, the five top provinces on age-standardized DALY rates, appeared as Qinghai (314.6 per 100 000), Guizhou (303.1 per 100 000), Yunnan (262.4 per 100 000), Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (239.6 per 100 000) and Taiwan (227.2 per 100 000). From 1990 to 2016, the prevalence rates of hepatitis B related cirrhosis and other chronic liver diseases showed an upward trend, particularly in males and in people aged 15 to 49 years old, in China. However, the disease burden of different provinces was unevenly distributed. Based on our findings, we suggested that strategies that related to prevention and management of hepatitis B caused cirrhosis and other chronic liver diseases should be paid more attention to.
10.3760/cma.j.issn.0254-6450.2020.02.007
The global, regional, and national burden of cirrhosis by cause in 195 countries and territories, 1990-2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017.
The lancet. Gastroenterology & hepatology
BACKGROUND:Cirrhosis and other chronic liver diseases (collectively referred to as cirrhosis in this paper) are a major cause of morbidity and mortality globally, although the burden and underlying causes differ across locations and demographic groups. We report on results from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2017 on the burden of cirrhosis and its trends since 1990, by cause, sex, and age, for 195 countries and territories. METHODS:We used data from vital registrations, vital registration samples, and verbal autopsies to estimate mortality. We modelled prevalence of total, compensated, and decompensated cirrhosis on the basis of hospital and claims data. Disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) were calculated as the sum of years of life lost due to premature death and years lived with disability. Estimates are presented as numbers and age-standardised or age-specific rates per 100 000 population, with 95% uncertainty intervals (UIs). All estimates are presented for five causes of cirrhosis: hepatitis B, hepatitis C, alcohol-related liver disease, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), and other causes. We compared mortality, prevalence, and DALY estimates with those expected according to the Socio-demographic Index (SDI) as a proxy for the development status of regions and countries. FINDINGS:In 2017, cirrhosis caused more than 1·32 million (95% UI 1·27-1·45) deaths (440 000 [416 000-518 000; 33·3%] in females and 883 000 [838 000-967 000; 66·7%] in males) globally, compared with less than 899 000 (829 000-948 000) deaths in 1990. Deaths due to cirrhosis constituted 2·4% (2·3-2·6) of total deaths globally in 2017 compared with 1·9% (1·8-2·0) in 1990. Despite an increase in the number of deaths, the age-standardised death rate decreased from 21·0 (19·2-22·3) per 100 000 population in 1990 to 16·5 (15·8-18·1) per 100 000 population in 2017. Sub-Saharan Africa had the highest age-standardised death rate among GBD super-regions for all years of the study period (32·2 [25·8-38·6] deaths per 100 000 population in 2017), and the high-income super-region had the lowest (10·1 [9·8-10·5] deaths per 100 000 population in 2017). The age-standardised death rate decreased or remained constant from 1990 to 2017 in all GBD regions except eastern Europe and central Asia, where the age-standardised death rate increased, primarily due to increases in alcohol-related liver disease prevalence. At the national level, the age-standardised death rate of cirrhosis was lowest in Singapore in 2017 (3·7 [3·3-4·0] per 100 000 in 2017) and highest in Egypt in all years since 1990 (103·3 [64·4-133·4] per 100 000 in 2017). There were 10·6 million (10·3-10·9) prevalent cases of decompensated cirrhosis and 112 million (107-119) prevalent cases of compensated cirrhosis globally in 2017. There was a significant increase in age-standardised prevalence rate of decompensated cirrhosis between 1990 and 2017. Cirrhosis caused by NASH had a steady age-standardised death rate throughout the study period, whereas the other four causes showed declines in age-standardised death rate. The age-standardised prevalence of compensated and decompensated cirrhosis due to NASH increased more than for any other cause of cirrhosis (by 33·2% for compensated cirrhosis and 54·8% for decompensated cirrhosis) over the study period. From 1990 to 2017, the number of prevalent cases more than doubled for compensated cirrhosis due to NASH and more than tripled for decompensated cirrhosis due to NASH. In 2017, age-standardised death and DALY rates were lower among countries and territories with higher SDI. INTERPRETATION:Cirrhosis imposes a substantial health burden on many countries and this burden has increased at the global level since 1990, partly due to population growth and ageing. Although the age-standardised death and DALY rates of cirrhosis decreased from 1990 to 2017, numbers of deaths and DALYs and the proportion of all global deaths due to cirrhosis increased. Despite the availability of effective interventions for the prevention and treatment of hepatitis B and C, they were still the main causes of cirrhosis burden worldwide, particularly in low-income countries. The impact of hepatitis B and C is expected to be attenuated and overtaken by that of NASH in the near future. Cost-effective interventions are required to continue the prevention and treatment of viral hepatitis, and to achieve early diagnosis and prevention of cirrhosis due to alcohol-related liver disease and NASH. FUNDING:Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
10.1016/S2468-1253(19)30349-8
Burden of Cirrhosis and Other Chronic Liver Diseases Caused by Specific Etiologies in China, 1990-2016: Findings from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016.
Biomedical and environmental sciences : BES
OBJECTIVE:To estimate the burden of cirrhosis and other chronic liver diseases caused by specific etiologies in China. METHODS:Data from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016 (GBD 2016) were used. We evaluated the burden by analyzing age-sex-province-specific prevalence, mortality, and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) of 33 provinces in China. RESULTS:From 1990 to 2016, prevalence cases in thousands increased by 73.7% from 6833.3 (95% : 6498.0-7180.6) to 11869.6 (95% : 11274.6-12504.7). Age-standardized mortality and DALY rates per 100,000 decreased by 51.2% and 53.3%, respectively. Male and elderly people (aged ≥ 60 years) preponderance were found for prevalence, mortality, and DALYs. The number of prevalence cases, deaths, and DALYs due to hepatitis C virus (HCV) increased by 86.6%, 8.7%, and 0.9%, respectively. Also, age-standardized prevalence rates decreased in 31 provinces, but increased in Yunnan and Shandong. The Socio-demographic Index (SDI) values were negatively correlated with age-standardized mortality and DALY rates by provinces in 2016; the correlation coefficients were -0.817 and -0.828, respectively. CONCLUSION:Cirrhosis and other chronic liver diseases remain a huge health burden in China, with the increase of population and the aging of population. Hepatitis B virus (HBV) remains the leading cause of the health burden in China.
10.3967/bes2020.001