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Who gets cirrhosis of the liver? You might be surprised.
A new Ontario study has found cirrhosis rates are increasing the fastest among young adults. An epidemic of fatty liver disease is being pointed to as one possible cause for the spike.
Once considered a disease of older men, the face of cirrhosis of the liver is changing, say the authors of the study published in the journal The Lancet Gastroenterology and Hepatology on Thursday.
New cases of cirrhosis nearly doubled in Ontario between 1997, when 6,318 people were diagnosed, and 2016, when 12,047 people were diagnosed. Nearly one per cent of the population now has cirrhosis, according to the retrospective population-based study from the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences.
Young adults and women are a high-growth population for the potentially deadly liver disease. The risk of cirrhosis is 116 per cent higher for millennials who were born in 1990 than Baby Boomers born in 1951. For women, the risk is even higher. A woman born in 1990 was 160 per cent more likely to be diagnosed with cirrhosis than a woman born in 1951.