Incidence rates and causes of cirrhosis in a Norwegian population

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Incidence

rates and causes of cirrhosis in a Norwegian population

Authors:

W. Haukeland; Inger Lorgen; Linn

Therese Schreiner; Svien-oskar Frigstad; Bjøer Brandsæter, Kristian Bjøro; Bang; Nils

Raknerud; Zbigniew Konopski

Affiliations:

Faculty

Division Aker

University Hospital,

University of Oslo, Norway

Published in:

Scandinavian

Journal of Gastroenterology 

First

Published on: 12 July 2007

Objective. To

investigate the incidence rate and causes of cirrhosis in a Norwegian

population. We also sought to assess the degree of

underreporting of cirrhosis to the Norwegian Death Registry.

Material and

methods.

All 1264 patients treated at Aker University

Hospital in the period January

1999 to March 2004 who were given a diagnosis indicating cirrhosis, chronic

liver disease or symptoms possibly attributable to cirrhosis were screened

retrospectively. A search of the registry of

histological diagnoses at Department of Pathology was also carried out. Based on the results of histological examinations and

non-histological criteria, cirrhosis was confirmed in 194 patients. Calculations of the incidence rate of cirrhosis and

frequencies of the various etiologies were based on 93 patients living in the

catchment area of the hospital. Causes

of death were retrieved from the Norwegian Death Registry. Results. The

incidence rate of cirrhosis was 134 per million per year. The

majority of cases were due to alcoholic liver disease (53%), followed by

viral liver disease (12%), various autoimmune liver diseases (12%), hemochromatosis (4%) and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) (3%). No

etiology was established in 16%, a group with a high prevalence of diabetes

mellitus, indicating that some of these cases were possibly caused by NASH. Among 105 deaths in this cohort of 194 cirrhotic

patients, the diagnosis of cirrhosis was absent in the Norwegian Death Registry

in 30% of cases. Conclusions. The incidence of

cirrhosis in Norway

is relatively low, with alcohol as the most important etiologic factor. Significant underreporting to the Norwegian Death

Registry was observed.

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