Prevalence of chronic liver diseases and anti-HCV antibodies in different districts of Saga, Japan.
The authors examined the contribution of Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) to the morbidity of chronic liver diseases (CLD) in selected districts of Saga, Japan, one group with low (L) and the other with a high (H) mortality rate of CLD. Age and sex-matched epidemiological studies showed an extremely high morbidity of CLD in the H-district (5.3%) and a low one in the L-districts (2.1%). Randomized selected studies of anti-HCV antibodies showed an extremely high frequency of 10.8% in the H-district and a frequency of 4.6% in the L-district. In addition, the number of subjects with both CLD and positive anti-HCV antibodies was significantly higher in subjects older than the fifth decade, in the H-district. The high prevalence of HCV may be related to the high morbidity and mortality rate of CLD in these districts of Japan.
Setoguchi
Y
Y
Department of Internal Medicine, Saga Medical School, Japan.
Yamamoto
K
K
Ozaki
I
I
Fujio
N
N
Kariya
T
T
Sakai
T
T
Fujii
S
S
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000453:epidemiology; D001803:Blood Transfusion; D002908:Chronic Disease; D005260:Female; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000276:immunology*; D006508:Hepatitis Antibodies / Q000032:analysis*; D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens / Q000032:analysis; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008107:Liver Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000276:immunology; D008111:Liver Function Tests; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D011897:Random Allocation
D006508:Hepatitis Antibodies; D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens