What is Chronic Liver Disease?
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), chronic liver disease includes health problems that affect the liver over time. The liver is your body’s largest internal organ. It lies up under your ribs on the right side of your belly. The liver does many important things including removing waste from the body, such as toxins and medicines, makes bile to help digest food, stores sugar that the body uses for energy, and make new proteins. Liver disease affects the way the liver functions.
How Does Chronic Live Disease Affect African American Populations?
Chronic liver disease is a problem in the African American population. While the cause of chronic liver disease is not always known, some cases can be initiated by conditions such as chronic alcoholism and exposure to hepatitis B and C viruses.
- In 2020, chronic liver disease was the nineth leading cause of death for non-Hispanic blacks, ages 45-64 years old.1
- African American/black men are 60 percent more likely to have liver and Intrahepatic Bile Duct (IBD) cancer and to die from this disease as compared to non-Hispanic white men.
- African American/black women are 30 percent more likely to die from liver and IBD cancer than non-Hispanic white women.
Cancer Rates (2015-2019)
Cancer Incidence Rates per 100,000 – Men
| Cancer | Non-Hispanic Black Men | Non-Hispanic White Men | Non-Hispanic Black/Non-Hispanic White Ratio |
| All Sites | 535.1 | 514.8 | 1.0 |
| Liver & IBD | 18.1 | 11.3 | 1.6 |
*IBD = Intrahepatic Bile Duct
Source: NCI 2022. Seer Cancer Statistics Review, 2015-2019. SEER*Explorer https://seer.cancer.gov/explorer/ [Accessed 11/30/2022]
Cancer Incidence Rates per 100,000 – Women
| Cancer | Non-Hispanic Black Women | Non-Hispanic White Women | Non-Hispanic Black/Non-Hispanic White Ratio |
| All Sites | 408.7 | 450.8 | 0.9 |
| Liver & IBD | 5.5 | 4.1 | 1.3 |
*IBD = Intrahepatic Bile Duct
Source: NCI 2022. Seer Cancer Statistics Review, 2015-2019. SEER*Explorer https://seer.cancer.gov/explorer/ [Accessed 11/30/2022]
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, 2018**
| Non-Hispanic Black | Non-Hispanic White | Non-Hispanic Black/Non-Hispanic White Ratio |
| 1.1 | 1.6 | 0.7 |
**NOTE: This is the most recent national data available currently.
Source: CDC 2022. Summary Health Statistics: National Health Interview Survey: 2018. Table A-4a.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhis/shs/tables.htm
Death Rates (2016 - 2020)
Cancer Death Rates per 100,000 – Men
| Cancer | Non-Hispanic Black Men | Non-Hispanic White Men | Black/Non-Hispanic White Ratio |
| All Sites | 216.0 | 182.5 | 1.2 |
| Liver & IBD | 12.9 | 8.4 | 1.5 |
Source: NCI 2022. Seer Cancer Statistics Review, U.S. 5-Year Age-Adjusted Mortality Rates, 2016-2020, SEER*Explorer. https://seer.cancer.gov/explorer/ [Accessed 11/30/2022]
Cancer Death Rates per 100,000 – Women
| Cancer | Non-Hispanic Black Women | Non-Hispanic White Women | Black/Non-Hispanic White Ratio |
| All Sites | 149.2 | 133.0 | 1.1 |
| Liver & IBD | 4.8 | 3.6 | 1.3 |
Source: NCI 2022. Seer Cancer Statistics Review, U.S. 5-Year Age-Adjusted Mortality Rates, 2016-2020, SEER*Explorer. https://seer.cancer.gov/explorer/ [Accessed 11/30/2022]
Age-adjusted Chronic Liver Disease and Cirrhosis Death Rates per 100,000 (2019)
| Non-Hispanic Black | Non-Hispanic White | Non-Hispanic Black/Non-Hispanic White Ratio | |
| Men | 10.4 | 15.4 | 0.7 |
| Women | 5.5 | 8.7 | 0.6 |
| Total | 7.7 | 11.9 | 0.6 |
Source: CDC 2022. National Vital Statistics Report, Vol.70, No. 8. Table 10. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr70/nvsr70-08-508.pdf
1CDC, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS)
http://www.cdc.gov/injury/wisqars/fatal.html