Changing prevalence of aetiological factors and comorbidities among Australians hospitalised for cirrhosis : the shifting epidemiology of cirrhosis

The rate of hospital admissions for cirrhosis increased 1.3-fold during 2008-2016 in Queensland. Alcohol misuse was a contributing factor for cirrhosis in 55% of admissions and 40% of patients had at least one comorbidity.This paper examines the temporal change in aetiology of liver disease and presence of comorbidity in patients admitted with cirrhosis.Population-based retrospective cohort study of all people treated in hospital for cirrhosis (10 254 patients) in Queensland during 2008-2016. Data were sourced from Queensland Hospital Admitted Patient Data Collection.The commonest aetiology was alcohol (49.5%), followed by cryptogenic (unspecified cirrhosis; 28.5%), hepatitis C virus (HCV) (19.3%), non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD)/nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) (4.8%) and hepatitis B virus (HBV) (4.3%). The prevalence of alcohol-related (p\ua0=\ua00.41) and HCV (p\ua0=\ua00.08) remained stable between 2008-2010 and 2014-2016, that of NAFLD/NASH, cryptogenic and HBV-cirrhosis increased by 67% (