Published online Dec 6, 2018. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v6.i15.922
Peer-review started: September 6, 2018
First decision: October 11, 2018
Revised: October 19, 2018
Accepted: November 14, 2018
Article in press: November 15, 2018
Published online: December 6, 2018
Processing time: 91 Days and 20.2 Hours
To investigate the main current etiologies of cirrhosis in Mexico.
We performed a cross-sectional retrospective multicenter study that included eight hospitals in different areas of Mexico. These hospitals provide health care to people of diverse social classes. The inclusion criteria were a histological, clinical, biochemical, endoscopic, or imaging diagnosis of liver cirrhosis. Data were obtained during a 5-year period (January 2012-December 2017).
A total of 1210 patients were included. The mean age was 62.5 years (SD = 12.1), and the percentages of men and women were similar (52.0% vs 48.0%). The most frequent causes of liver cirrhosis were hepatitis C virus (HCV) (36.2%), alcoholic liver disease (ALD) (31.2%), and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (23.2%), and the least frequent were hepatitis B virus (1.1%), autoimmune disorders (7.3%), and other conditions (1.0%).
HCV and ALD are the most frequent causes of cirrhosis in Mexico. However, we note that non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) as an etiology of cirrhosis increased by 100% compared with the rate noted previously. We conclude that NAFLD will soon become one of the most frequent etiologies of liver cirrhosis in Mexico.
Core tip: In 2004, a Mexican study reported the most common causes of liver cirrhosis were alcoholic liver disease (39.5%), hepatitis C virus (36.6%), and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (10.4%). We believe that the epidemiology of cirrhosis has changed because of the increasing prevalence of obesity, metabolic syndrome, and autoimmune diseases. Therefore, we performed a cross-sectional multicenter study that included eight hospitals of different areas of Mexico in order to know the current epidemiology of liver cirrhosis in this country.