Chronic Liver Disease and Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders

Among Asian Americans, chronic liver disease is a leading cause of death. While the cause is not always known, some cases can be initiated by conditions such as chronic alcoholism, obesity, and exposure to Hepatitis B and C viruses.

In 2009, chronic liver disease was the seventh leading cause of death for Asian/Pacific Islander males, 45-64 years old. ¹
Asian Americans have the highest incidence rates of liver cancer for both sexes compared with Hispanic, non-Hispanic Whites, or non-Hispanic Blacks. ²
Asian male subgroups have higher mortality rates for liver cancer, specifically 54.3 for Vietnamese, 33.9 for Koreans, 23.3 for Chinese, 16.8 for Filipino, and 9.3 for Japanese. ²
Asian Americans are more than twice as likely to die from liver and IBD cancer, as compared to non-Hispanic Whites.
The incidence rate for liver and IBD cancer is almost three times higher for Asian American women.

At a glance – Cancer Rates for Asian/Pacific Islanders (2005-2009):

**Cancer Incidence Rates per 100,000 – Men**
Cancer	Asian/Pacific Islander Men	Non-Hispanic White Men	Asian/Pacific Islander/ Non-Hispanic White Ratio
All Sites	342.6	564.7	0.6
Liver & IBD*	22.1	8.8	2.5

**Cancer Incidence Rates per 100,000 – Women**
Cancer	Asian/Pacific Islander Women	Non-Hispanic White Women	Asian/Pacific Islander/ Non-Hispanic White Ratio
All Sites	299.4	439.0	0.7
Liver & IBD*	8.5	2.9	2.9

*IBD = Intrahepatic Bile Duct

Source: NCI 2012. Seer Cancer Statistics Review, 1975-2009. Tables 2.15, and 14.15
http://seer.cancer.gov/csr/1975_2009_pops09/results_single/sect_02_table.15.pdf [PDF | 11.4KB]
http://seer.cancer.gov/csr/1975_2009_pops09/results_single/sect_02_table.15.pdf [PDF | 11.3KB]

At a glance – Diagnosed:

**Age-adjusted percentage of persons 18 years of age and over who have been told by a doctor that they have chronic liver disease, 2010**
Asian	Non-Hispanic White	Asian/ Non-Hispanic White Ratio
1.6	1.3	1.2

Source: CDC 2012. Summary Health Statistics for U.S. Adults: 2010. Table 8.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_10/sr10_252.pdf [PDF | 1.5MB]

At a glance – Death Rate:

**Cancer Death Rates per 100,000 – Men (2005-2009)**
Cancer	Asian/Pacific Islander Men	Non-Hispanic White Men	Asian/Pacific Islander/ Non-Hispanic White Ratio
Liver & IBD*	14.5	7.0	2.1

**Cancer Death Rates per 100,000 – Women (2005-2009)**
Cancer	Asian/Pacific Islander Women	Non-Hispanic White Women	Asian/Pacific Islander/ Non-Hispanic White Ratio
Liver & IBD*	6.1	2.9	2.1

*IBD = Intrahepatic Bile Duct

Source: NCI 2012. Seer Cancer Statistics Review, 1975-2009. Table 14.15
http://seer.cancer.gov/csr/1975_2009_pops09/results_single/sect_14_table.15.pdf [PDF | 11.3KB]

**Age-Adjusted Chronic Liver Disease and Cirrhosis Death Rates per 100,000 (2009)**
Asians/Pacific Islander	Non-Hispanic White	Asians/Pacific Islander/ Alaska Native/Non-Hispanic White Ratio
3.4	9.1	0.4

Source: CDC 2012. Deaths: Final Data for 2009. Table 16 and Table 17.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr60/nvsr60_03.pdf [PDF | 2MB]

¹CDC, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS). http://www.cdc.gov/injury/wisqars/fatal.html

² Source: CDC 2008. Health characteristics of the Asian adult population: United States, 2004–2006, page 2. http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/ad/ad394.pdf [PDF | 476KB]

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Content Last Modified: 8/24/2012 10:10:00 AM

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