Hepatitis and African Americans

Hepatitis B infection has dropped significantly since 1991, but remains an area of concern for the African American population.

In 2005, non-Hispanic Blacks were almost twice as likely to die from viral hepatitis, as compared to non-Hispanic Whites.
Among all ethnic groups in 2006, African Americans had the highest incidence of Hepatitis B.
African Americans were 2.2 times more likely to develop Hepatitis B, in 2006, than the White population.
African Americans between the ages of 19-34 were 3.6 times more likely to have Hepatitis B, in 2005.
In 2002, Black children were 3.2 times more likely than White children to be diagnosed with acute viral Hepatitis B.
Data on chronic Hepatitis B and chronic Hepatitis C virus infection (past or present) are not included by the CDC in the National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System reports, because they are undergoing data quality review. Neither is this data reported in the CDC Healthy People 2010 database.

VIRAL HEPATITIS

Death Rates:

**Death Rates for Viral Hepatitis, 2005 (all types)**
	Non-Hispanic Black	Non-Hispanic White	Non-Hispanic Black / Non-Hispanic White Ratio
Male	3.5	2.1	1.7
Female	1.9	1.0	1.9
Total	2.6	1.5	1.7

Source: CDC, 2008. Deaths: Final Data for 2005. National vital statistics reports; vol. 56, no. 10. Table 17.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr56/nvsr56_10.pdf [PDF, 3.37MB]

**Acute Viral Hepatitis Incidence (Cases per 100,000 population), 2006**
	Black	White	Black / White Ratio
Hepatitis A	0.60	0.78	0.8
Hepatitis B	2.18	0.99	2.2
Hepatitis C	0.15	0.20	0.8

Source: CDC, 2008. Summary of Notifiable Diseases - United States , 2006. MMWR 2007; v. 55, no. 53. Table 5.
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/PDF/wk/mm5553.pdf [PDF, 1.42MB]

HEPATITIS A

**Hepatitis A, Acute (Cases per 100,000 population), 2005**
Non-Hispanic Black	Non-Hispanic White	Healthy People 2010 Goal	Non-Hispanic Black / Non-Hispanic White Ratio
0.8	0.9	4.3	0.9

Source: CDC 2007. Healthy People 2010 Database. Table 14-06.
http://wonder.cdc.gov/scripts/data2010

**Hepatitis A, Acute (Cases per 100,000 population), 2006**
Black	White	Black / White Ratio
0.60	0.78	0.8

Source: CDC, 2008. Summary of Notifiable Diseases - United States , 2006. MMWR 2007; v. 55, no. 53. Table 5.
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/PDF/wk/mm5553.pdf [PDF, 1.42MB]

HEPATITIS B

At a glance – Adults (Hepatitis B):

**Acute Hepatitis B in adults, aged 19-24 years, and high risk groups (Cases per 100,000 population), 2005**
African Americans	Non-Hispanic White	Healthy People 2010 Goal	African American/ Non-Hispanic White Ratio
10.2	2.8	1.8	3.6

Source: CDC 2007. Healthy People 2010 Database. Table 14-03a.
http://wonder.cdc.gov/scripts/data2010

**Acute Hepatitis B in adults, aged 25-39 years, and high risk groups (Cases per 100,000 population), 2005**
African Americans	Non-Hispanic White	Healthy People 2010 Goal	African American/ Non-Hispanic White Ratio
16.6	6.6	5.2	2.5

Source: CDC 2007. Healthy People 2010 Database. Table 14-03b.
http://wonder.cdc.gov/scripts/data2010

**Acute Hepatitis B in adults, aged 40 years and older, and high risk groups (Cases per 100,000 population), 2005**
African Americans	Non-Hispanic White	Healthy People 2010 Goal	African American/ Non-Hispanic White Ratio
9.1	2.9	3.7	3.1

Source: CDC 2007. Healthy People 2010 Database. Table 14-03c.
http://wonder.cdc.gov/scripts/data2010

**Hepatitis B, Acute (Cases per 100,000 population), 2006**
Black	White	Black / White Ratio
2.18	0.99	2.2

Source: CDC, 2008. Summary of Notifiable Diseases - United States , 2006. MMWR 2007; v. 55, no. 53. Table 5.
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/PDF/wk/mm5553.pdf [PDF, 1.42MB]

At a glance – Immunization of Adolescents, aged 13 to 15 years old (Hepatitis B):

**Percentage of adolescents aged 13 to 15 years who received 3 or more doses of the hepatitis B vaccination, 2003**
African Americans	Non-Hispanic White	Healthy People 2010 Goal	African American/ Non-Hispanic White Ratio
84%	79%	90%	1.1

Source: CDC 2007. Healthy People 2010 Database. Table 14-27a.
http://wonder.cdc.gov/scripts/data2010

At a glance – Immunization of Children aged 19 to 35 months (Hepatitis B):

**Percentage of children aged 19 to 35 months who received the universally recommended vaccination – 3 doses hepatitis B (hep B) vaccine , 2005**
African American	Non-Hispanic White	Healthy People 2010 Goal	African American/ Non-Hispanic White Ratio
93%	93%	90%	1.0

Source: CDC 2007. Healthy People 2010 Database. Table 14-22c.
http://wonder.cdc.gov/scripts/data2010

At a glance – Children (Hepatitis B):

**Rate of acute hepatitis B in persons aged 19 years and under, 2002**
Black	White	Black / White Ratio
0.51	0.16	3.2

Source: CDC, 2004. Acute Hepatitis B Among Children and Adolescents --- United States , 1990--2002.
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5343a4.htm

HEPATITIS C

**Hepatitis C, Acute (Cases per 100,000 population), 2006**
Black	White	Black / White Ratio
0.15	0.20	0.8

Source: CDC, 2008. Summary of Notifiable Diseases - United States , 2006. MMWR 2007; v. 55, no. 53. Table 5.
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/PDF/wk/mm5553.pdf [PDF, 1.42MB]

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: 5/7/2008 3:26:00 PM