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 2006, chronic liver disease was the sixth 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 live and IBD cancer, as compared to non-Hispanic Whites.
Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islanders were seven times more likely to be diagnosed with chronic liver disease in 2006. ³
The incidence rate for liver and IBD cancere is three times higher for both Asian American men and women.

At a glance – Cancer Rates for Asian/Pacific Islanders (2002-2006):

**Cancer Incidence Rates per 100,000 – Men**
Cancer	All Men	Asian/Pacific Islander Men	Non-Hispanic White Men	Asian/Pacific Islander/ Non-Hispanic White Ratio
All Sites	541.8	349.1	544.3	0.6
Liver & IBD*	10.2	21.4	7.5	2.9

**Cancer Incidence Rates per 100,000 – Women**
Cancer	All Women	Asian/Pacific Islander Women	Non-Hispanic White Women	Asian/Pacific Islander/ Non-Hispanic White Ratio
All Sites	408.5	287.5	420.5	0.7
Liver & IBD*	3.6	8.3	2.6	3.2

*IBD = Intrahepatic Bile Duct

Source: : NCI 2009. Seer Cancer Statistics Review, 1975-2006. Tables 1.24, 1.25, and 14.12
http://seer.cancer.gov/csr/1975_2006/results_merged/topic_inc_trends.pdf [PDF | 61KB]
http://seer.cancer.gov/csr/1975_2006/results_merged/sect_14_liver_bile.pdf [PDF | 450KB]

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, 2007**
Asian	Non-Hispanic White	Asian/ Non-Hispanic White Ratio
0.9	1.1	0.8

Source: CDC 2009. Summary Health Statistics for U.S. Adults: 2007. Table 8.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_10/sr10_240.pdf[PDF | 8.43MB]

Age-adjusted percentage of persons 18 years of age and over who have been told by a doctor that they have chronic liver disease, 2006*
Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander	Non-Hispanic White	Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander/ Non-Hispanic White Ratio
9.7	1.4	7.0

Source: CDC 2007. Summary Health Statistics for U.S. Adults: 2006. Table 8.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_10/sr10_235.pdf[PDF | 4MB]

*No data is currently available for the Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander group in 2009

At a glance – Death Rate:

**Cancer Death Rates per 100,000 – Men (2002-2006)**
Cancer	Asian/Pacific Islander Men	Non-Hispanic White Men	Asian/Pacific Islander/ Non-Hispanic White Ratio
Liver & IBD*	15.0	6.4	2.3

**Cancer Death Rates per 100,000 – Women (2002-2006)**
Cancer	Asian/Pacific Islander Women	Non-Hispanic White Women	Asian/Pacific Islander/ Non-Hispanic White Ratio
Liver & IBD*	6.6	2.8	2.4

*IBD = Intrahepatic Bile Duct

Source: NCI 2009. Seer Cancer Statistics Review, 1975-2006. Table 1.20
http://seer.cancer.gov/csr/1975_2006/results_single/sect_01_table.20_2pgs.pdf [PDF | 24KB]

**Age-Adjusted Chronic Liver Disease and Cirrhosis Death Rates per 100,000 (2005)**
Asians/Pacific Islander	Non-Hispanic White	Asians/Pacific Islander/ Alaska Native/Non-Hispanic White Ratio
3.6	8.7	0.4

Source: CDC, 2009. Health United States, 2008. Table 28
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus08.pdf [PDF | 12.2MB]

¹CDC, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS) [accessed 09/24/2009]. http://www.cdc.gov/injury/wisqars/LeadingCauses.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]

³ Source: CDC 2007. Summary Health Statistics for U.S. Adults: 2006. Table 8.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_10/sr10_235.pdf[PDF | 4MB]

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Content Last Modified: 11/9/2009 2:32:00 PM