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 2005, 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 2.2 times more likely to die from chronic liver disease, 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 chronic liver disease is three times higher for both Asian American men and women.

At a glance – Cancer Rates for Asian/Pacific Islanders (2001-2005):

**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	549.3	354.0	568.3	0.6
Liver & IBD*	9.9	21.7	7.3	3.0

**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	411.0	287.8	439.7	0.7
Liver & IBD*	3.5	8.3	2.6	3.2

*IBD = Intrahepatic Bile Duct

Source: : NCI 2008. Seer Cancer Statistics Review, 1975-2005. Tables I-24, I-25, and XIV-10, II - 10
http://seer.cancer.gov/csr/1975_2005/results_merged/topic_race_ethnicity.pdf [PDF | 1.2MB]

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, 2006**
Asian	Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander	Non-Hispanic White	Asian/ Non-Hispanic White Ratio	Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander/ Non-Hispanic White Ratio
1.9	9.7	1.4	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

At a glance – Death Rate:

**Cancer Death Rates per 100,000 – Men (2001-2005)**
Cancer	Asian/Pacific Islander Men	Non-Hispanic White Men	Asian/Pacific Islander/ Non-Hispanic White Ratio
Liver & IBD*	15.2	6.3	2.4

**Cancer Death Rates per 100,000 – Women (2001-2005)**
Cancer	Asian/Pacific Islander Women	Non-Hispanic White Women	Asian/Pacific Islander/ Non-Hispanic White Ratio
Liver & IBD*	6.6	2.7	2.4

*IBD = Intrahepatic Bile Duct

Source: NCI 2008. Seer Cancer Statistics Review, 1975-2005. Tables XIV-10 and I-20
http://seer.cancer.gov/csr/1975_2005/results_merged/topic_race_ethnicity.pdf [PDF | 1.2MB]

**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, 2007. Health United States, 2007. Table 29
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus07.pdf

¹ CDC, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS) [accessed 07/25/2008]. http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/wisqars/

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

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

You will need Adobe Acrobat® Reader™ to view PDF files located on this site. If you do not already have Adobe Acrobat® Reader™, you can download here for free.

Content Last Modified: 1/9/2009 11:12:00 AM