The Increasing Burden of Mortality From Viral Hepatitis in the United States

Letters17 July 2012The Increasing Burden of Mortality From Viral Hepatitis in the United StatesEdward L. Murphy, MD, MPHEdward L. Murphy, MD, MPHFrom University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94118.Search for more papers by this authorAuthor, Article, and Disclosure Informationhttps://doi.org/10.7326/0003-4819-157-2-201207170-00021 SectionsAboutFull TextPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail TO THE EDITOR:Although the data on mortality associated with hepatitis C virus (HCV) are certainly important to public health, Ly and colleagues (1) present them in a way that may lead to overestimation of HCV-related mortality. First, the authors define HCV death as having a death certificate mentioning HCV as either a contributing or an underlying cause. They do not present a breakdown of cause-specific mortality among these “HCV deaths.” In our own analysis of HCV mortality, liver-related deaths represented only 20% of deaths in a large cohort of HCV-seropositive former blood donors (2). Most mortality in our HCV ...References1. Ly KN, Xing J, Klevens RM, Jiles RB, Ward JW, Holmberg SD. The increasing burden of mortality from viral hepatitis in the United States between 1999 and 2007. Ann Intern Med. 2012;156:271-8. [PMID: 22351712] LinkGoogle Scholar2. Guiltinan AM, Kaidarova Z, Custer B, Orland J, Strollo A, Cyrus S, et al. Increased all-cause, liver, and cardiac mortality among hepatitis C virus-seropositive blood donors. Am J Epidemiol. 2008;167:743-50. [PMID: 18203734] CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar3. Murphy EL, Bryzman S, Williams AE, Co-Chien H, Schreiber GB, Ownby HE, et al. Demographic determinants of hepatitis C virus seroprevalence among blood donors. JAMA. 1996;275:995-1000. [PMID: 8596257] CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar4. Murphy EL, Fang J, Tu Y, Cable R, Hillyer CD, Sacher R, et al; Retrovirus Epidemiology Donor Study. Hepatitis C virus prevalence and clearance among US blood donors, 2006-2007: associations with birth cohort, multiple pregnancies, and body mass index. J Infect Dis. 2010;202:576-84. [PMID: 20617929] CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar Author, Article, and Disclosure InformationAffiliations: From University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94118.Disclosures:Grants/grants pending (money to institution): National Institutes of Health. PreviousarticleNextarticle Advertisement FiguresReferencesRelatedDetailsSee AlsoThe Increasing Burden of Mortality From Viral Hepatitis in the United States Between 1999 and 2007 Kathleen N. Ly , Jian Xing , R. Monina Klevens , Ruth B. Jiles , John W. Ward , and Scott D. Holmberg The Increasing Burden of Mortality From Viral Hepatitis in the United States Scott D. Holmberg , Kathleen N. Ly , and Jian Xing Metrics Cited byACG Clinical Guideline: Diagnosis and Management of Idiosyncratic Drug-Induced Liver InjuryHepatitis C virus infection mortality trends according to three definitions with special concern for the baby boomer birth cohortDynamic prediction of risk of liver-related outcomes in chronic hepatitis C using routinely collected dataSystematic review: identifying patients with chronic hepatitis C in need of early treatment and intensive monitoring - predictors and predictive models of disease progression 17 July 2012Volume 157, Issue 2Page: 149-150KeywordsBlood donorsDrugsHIVHepatitis C virusHepatocellular carcinomaLiverMortalityPrevention, policy, and public healthSubstance abuseSuicide ePublished: 17 July 2012 Issue Published: 17 July 2012 Copyright & PermissionsCopyright © 2012 by American College of Physicians. All Rights Reserved.PDF downloadLoading ...