title: The epidemiology of primary biliary cirrhosis in southern Israel.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The epidemiology of primary biliary cirrhosis has changed significantly over the last decade, with a trend towards increasing prevalence in many places around the world.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To determine the overall prevalence of PBC in southern Israel and the specific rates for different immigrant groups between January 1993 and October 2004.
  
  
  METHODS
  Multiple case-finding methods were used to identify all cases of PBC in the study region. Age-adjusted prevalence rates were compared among the different immigrant groups.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 47 cases of PBC were identified with an overall prevalence of 55 cases per million. All patients were women, and all except for a Bedouin Arab were Jewish. Foreign-born patients comprised 70% of our PBC cohort even though they represent only 45.4% of the regional population. This predominance of immigrants did not change when the rates were adjusted for age (P < 0.001). The prevalence rates were 40, 177, and 58 cases per million for those born in Israel, North Africa or Asia, and Eastern Europe, respectively. The age-specific prevalence rate for women older than 40 years varied from 135 cases per million among those born in Israel to 450 among immigrants from Eastern Europe and the former USSR to 700 cases per million among immigrants from North Africa and Asia.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The prevalence of PBC in southern Israel is similar to that reported from some European countries. The rate is much higher among Jews than Arabs and among immigrants to Israel compared to native Israelis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, Soroka University Hospital, Beer Sheva, Israel. delgado@bgumail.bgu.ac.il
authors.forename: Jorge
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Delgado
authors.forename: Ami D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Sperber
authors.forename: Victor
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Novack
authors.forename: Bertha
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Delgado
authors.forename: Leslie
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Edelman
authors.forename: Nava
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Gaspar
authors.forename: Pavel
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Krugliak
authors.forename: Shmuel
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Odes
authors.forename: Alan B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Jotkowitz
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Faszczyk
authors.forename: Alex
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fich
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000352:Africa, Northern / Q000208:ethnology; D001208:Asia / Q000208:ethnology; D004641:Emigration and Immigration; D005061:Europe, Eastern / Q000208:ethnology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007557:Israel / Q000453:epidemiology; D007585:Jews; D008105:Liver Cirrhosis, Biliary / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D014586:USSR / Q000208:ethnology