More and more people need liver transplantation
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
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The results of the new study indicate that the demand for liver transplantation, which is required by a patient infected with hepatitis C, and having cirrhosis, grew among Americans born between 1941 and 1960. In this twenty-year period of time there was an "explosion of fertility", it was of a temporary nature and since the late 1950s, the birth rate in the United States began to decline again. The people born at that time were called baby boomers, the term became prevalent mainly in the USA.
The continued increase in demand for liver transplantation is due to the fact that more and more baby boomers with hepatitis C develop liver cancer, but the number of those who need transplantation tends to decrease, because patients born in this period will grow old.
The results of researches of scientists are presented on the pages of the December issue of the magazine "Liver Transplantation".
Previous studies have shown that among patients living with chronic hepatitis C, 10-20% will develop cirrhosis, and 5% - hepatocellular carcinoma (liver cancer) - the most common liver tumor. Hepatocellular carcinoma ranks third in the number of deaths from cancer. Specialists note that hepatitis C is the main risk factor that provokes the development of hepatocellular carcinoma. In 47% of cases of liver cancer, the cause is the hepatitis C virus.
The peak of the spread of infection occurs in the generation that was born from 1940 to 1965. Between 1979 and 1989, they were between twenty and thirty. It was then that the risk of contracting the hepatitis C virus was highest.
"Diagnosis of hepatitis C is complicated by the fact that the disease can for a long time be asymptomatic until irreversible liver damage occurs," says lead author Dr. Scott Biggins of the University of Colorado.
The study of the scientists involved patients who were waiting for their turn for liver transplantation between 1995 and 2010.
All participants were divided into those who simply had hepatitis C and hepatitis C with hepatocellular carcinoma. These patients were classified by year of birth and found that the highest level of hepatitis C disease was observed in those who were born (in descending order) between 1951-1955, 1956-1960, 1946-1950 and 1941-1945. These four groups account for 81% of all new cases of liver transplant registration.
In addition, the researchers note that between 2000 and 2010, the number of new candidates waiting for the turnaround for liver transplantation increased by 4%. Most of them were born during the baby boom - from 1941 to 1960.
"Over time, the number of transplants will decrease. This is due to the aging of patients. Many of them, although they will need a transplant, but because of the state of health, the operation will be impossible, "experts say.
To date, Americans from the baby boomer generation, infected with the hepatitis C virus, have about two million people.
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