Hepatitis and Asian Americans

In the United States, one study reports that approximately half of the 1 million persons with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection are Asian/Pacific Islanders, most of whom became infected with HBV before arriving in the United States.1

  • Asian Americans were twice as likely to develop chronic hepatitis B, as compared to whites, from 2013-2016.
  • 2018 surveillance shows that Asian Americans were almost eight times more likely to die from hepatitis B than non-Hispanic whites.

VIRAL HEPATITIS

Death Rates for Viral Hepatitis, 2017 (all types)
*Asian/Pacific IslanderNon-Hispanic WhiteAsian/Pacific Islander / Non-Hispanic White Ratio
Male1.81.61.1
Female0.90.91.0
Total1.31.21.1

Source: CDC 2019. Deaths: Final Data for 2017. National vital statistics reports, vol. 68, no. 9. Table 10.
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr68/nvsr68_09-508.pdf [PDF | 1.76MB]

HEPATITIS A

Hepatitis A, Acute (Cases per 100,000 population), 2018
Asian/Pacific IslanderNon-Hispanic WhiteAsian/Pacific Islander / Non-Hispanic White Ratio
0.54.30.1

CDC 2020. Viral Hepatitis Surveillance — United States, 2018. Table 1.2.
https://www.cdc.gov/hepatitis/statistics/2018surveillance/pdfs/2018HepSurveillanceRpt.pdf [PDF | 7.76MB]

HEPATITIS B

Hepatitis B, Acute (Cases per 100,000 population), 2018
Asian/Pacific IslanderNon-Hispanic WhiteAsian/Pacific Islander / Non-Hispanic White Ratio
0.31.00.3

CDC 2020. Viral Hepatitis Surveillance — United States, 2018. Table 2.2.
https://www.cdc.gov/hepatitis/statistics/2018surveillance/pdfs/2018HepSurveillanceRpt.pdf [PDF | 7.76MB]

HEPATITIS B - CHRONIC

Adults (Chronic Hepatitis B)

Percentage of reported cases of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, 2013-2016
Asian/Pacific IslanderNon-Hispanic WhiteAsian/Pacific Islander / Non-Hispanic White Ratio
30.113.52.2

Source: CDC 2018. Viral Hepatitis Surveillance – United States, 2016. Table 3.4.
http://www.cdc.gov/hepatitis/Statistics/2016Surveillance/index.htm

Death Rate (Hepatitis B)

Rate per 100,000 of Hepatitis-B-Related Deaths, 2018
Asian/Pacific IslanderNon-Hispanic WhiteAsian/Pacific Islander / Non-Hispanic White Ratio
2.10.277.8

CDC 2020. Viral Hepatitis Surveillance — United States, 2018. Table 2.7.
https://www.cdc.gov/hepatitis/statistics/2018surveillance/pdfs/2018HepSurveillanceRpt.pdf [PDF | 7.76MB]

Immunization of Adults (Hepatitis B)

Percentage of adults ages 19-49 years, high risk groups, who ever received 3 or more doses of the hepatitis B vaccination, 2017
Asian Non-Hispanic WhiteAsian / Non-Hispanic White Ratio
39.736.61.1

Source: CDC 2018. Vaccination Coverage among Adults in the United States, National Health Interview Survey, 2017. Box 2, Table 2.
https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/imz-managers/coverage/adultvaxview/pubs-resources/NHIS-2017.html

Immunization of Adolescents (Hepatitis B)

Percentage of adolescents aged 13 to 17 years who received 2 doses of measles, mumps, rubella vaccination, 2019
Asian Non-Hispanic WhiteAsian / Non-Hispanic White Ratio
93.093.11.0

Source: CDC 2020. Vaccination Coverage Among Adolescents Aged 13–17 Years — United States, 2019. Supplementary Table 1.
https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/imz-managers/coverage/teenvaxview/pubs-presentations/NIS-teen-vac-coverage-estimates-2019-tables.html

Immunization of Children (Hepatitis B)


Percentage of children aged 19 to 35 months who received the universally recommended vaccination – primary series hepatitis B (Hep B) vaccine, 2017
Asian Native Hawaiians/Pacific IslandersNon-Hispanic WhiteAsian / Non-Hispanic White RatioNative Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders / Non-Hispanic White Ratio
94.790.791.11.01.0

Source: CDC 2018. Vaccination Coverage Among Children Aged 19–35 Months — United States, 2017. Supplementary Table 1.
https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/59414

HEPATITIS C - ACUTE

Hepatitis C, Acute (Cases per 100,000 population), 2018
Asian/Pacific IslanderNon-Hispanic WhiteAsian/Pacific Islander / Non-Hispanic White Ratio
0.21.30.2

CDC 2020. Viral Hepatitis Surveillance — United States, 2018. Table 3.2.
https://www.cdc.gov/hepatitis/statistics/2018surveillance/pdfs/2018HepSurveillanceRpt.pdf [PDF | 7.76MB]

HEPATITIS C - CHRONIC

Adults (Chronic Hepatitis C)

Percentage of reported cases of past or present hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, 2013-2016
Asian/Pacific IslanderNon-Hispanic WhiteAsian/Pacific Islander / Non-Hispanic White Ratio
0.836.40.02

Source: CDC 2018. Viral Hepatitis Surveillance – United States, 2016. Table 4.4
http://www.cdc.gov/hepatitis/Statistics/2016Surveillance/index.htm

Death Rate (Chronic Hepatitis C)

Rate per 100,000 of Hepatitis-B-Related Deaths, 2018
Asian/Pacific IslanderNon-Hispanic WhiteAsian/Pacific Islander / Non-Hispanic White Ratio
1.433.350.4

CDC 2020. Viral Hepatitis Surveillance — United States, 2018. Table 3.7.
https://www.cdc.gov/hepatitis/statistics/2018surveillance/pdfs/2018HepSurveillanceRpt.pdf [PDF | 7.76MB]

1CDC, 2007. Hepatitis Awareness Month - May 2007. MMWR v. 56, no. 18, page 1. http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/PDF/wk/mm5618.pdf [PDF | 551KB]
*All data in the above surveys relate to non-Hispanic Asians/Pacific Islanders


Last Edited: 12/31/2020