Liu YB, Chen MK. Epidemiology of liver cirrhosis and associated complications: Current knowledge and future directions. World J Gastroenterol 2022; 28(41): 5910-5930 [PMID: 36405106 DOI: 10.3748/wjg.v28.i41.5910]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Ming-Kai Chen, MD, Chief Physician, Professor, Department of Gastroenterology, Renmin Hospital of WuHan University, No. 99 Zhang Zhidong Road, Wuhan 430000, Hubei Province, China. kaimingchen@163.com
Research Domain of This Article
Gastroenterology & Hepatology
Article-Type of This Article
Review
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Gastroenterol. Nov 7, 2022; 28(41): 5910-5930 Published online Nov 7, 2022. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v28.i41.5910
Epidemiology of liver cirrhosis and associated complications: Current knowledge and future directions
Yuan-Bin Liu, Ming-Kai Chen
Yuan-Bin Liu, Ming-Kai Chen, Department of Gastroenterology, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan 430000, Hubei Province, China
Author contributions: Liu YB and Chen MK proposed the idea for the article; Liu YB carried out the literature search, wrote the manuscript, and prepared the language refinement; Chen MK revised the manuscript as the corresponding author and provided comments; all authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no conflict of interest in this study.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Ming-Kai Chen, MD, Chief Physician, Professor, Department of Gastroenterology, Renmin Hospital of WuHan University, No. 99 Zhang Zhidong Road, Wuhan 430000, Hubei Province, China. kaimingchen@163.com
Received: August 27, 2022 Peer-review started: August 27, 2022 First decision: September 25, 2022 Revised: September 30, 2022 Accepted: October 19, 2022 Article in press: October 19, 2022 Published online: November 7, 2022 Processing time: 68 Days and 22.1 Hours
Abstract
Cirrhosis causes a heavy global burden. In this review, we summarized up-to-date epidemiological features of cirrhosis and its complications. Recent epidemiological studies reported an increase in the prevalence of cirrhosis in 2017 compared to in 1990 in both men and women, with 5.2 million cases of cirrhosis and chronic liver disease occurring in 2017. Cirrhosis caused 1.48 million deaths in 2019, an increase of 8.1% compared to 2017. Disability-adjusted life-years due to cirrhosis ranked 16th among all diseases and 7th in people aged 50-74 years in 2019. The global burden of hepatitis B virus and hepatitis C virus-associated cirrhosis is decreasing, while the burden of cirrhosis due to alcohol and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is increasing rapidly. We described the current epidemiology of the major complications of cirrhosis, including ascites, variceal bleeding, hepatic encephalopathy, renal disorders, and infections. We also summarized the epidemiology of hepatocellular carcinoma in patients with cirrhosis. In the future, NAFLD-related cirrhosis will likely become more common due to the prevalence of metabolic diseases such as obesity and diabetes, and the prevalence of alcohol-induced cirrhosis is increasing. This altered epidemiology should be clinically noted, and relevant interventions should be undertaken.
Core Tip: The global burden of liver cirrhosis continues to rise. In 2017, there were 520000 new cases of cirrhosis and chronic liver disease. In 2019, cirrhosis caused 1.48 million deaths, an increase of 8.1% compared to 2017, and its disability-adjusted life-years ranked 16th among all diseases. The global burden of cirrhosis due to hepatitis B virus and hepatitis C virus infection is decreasing, while the burden of cirrhosis due to alcohol and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease is increasing rapidly. We also outlined the recent epidemiology of the major complications and hepatocellular carcinoma in cirrhosis.
