Global Burden of Liver Disease

Globally, liver diseases represent a major world public health problem, and chronic liver diseases (CLDs) are a major and increasing cause of morbidity and mortality. Recent estimations indicate that 844 million people have CLDs, with a mortality rate of 2 million deaths per year.¹ The causes of CLDs include viral-induced, such as chronic hepatitis B and hepatitis C, and the metabolic-related, including non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and non-alcoholic steato-hepatitis (NASH). As the epidemics of obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus increase worldwide, the prevalence of NAFLD and NASH are increasing proportionately. Reports estimate the global prevalence of NAFLD in the general population to be 25% whereas the global prevalence of NASH ranges from 3% to 5%². CLDs if left untreated can lead to cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma, liver transplantation, and death.

Viral-induced liver disease is a growing and major cause of death in China and has a substantial impact on the global burden of diseases. There are more than 90 million chronic carriers of hepatitis B virus (HBV) in China, accounting for about one-third of all HBV chronic carriers in the world³. It is estimated that 40 million people in China are infected with the hepatitis C virus⁴ and that 85% of the carriers may be unaware of their infection status⁵. Nearly 400,000 people die from liver cancer every year in China, which accounts for more than half of the deaths from liver cancer worldwide⁶.