Korean J Gastroenterol.  2023 Feb;81(2):59-65. 10.4166/kjg.2023.007.

Epidemiology of Autoimmune Liver Disease

• Heo NY

• KMID: 2539574
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4166/kjg.2023.007

Abstract

Autoimmune liver disease is an important immune-mediated pathologic entity involving the liver and intrahepatic bile duct, including autoimmune hepatitis, primary biliary cholangitis, and primary sclerosing cholangitis. Although it is necessary to ascertain its presence in acute or chronic liver disease without common causes, it is not easy to diagnose this disease straightforwardly because of its rarity. Recently, the incidence and prevalence of autoimmune hepatitis and primary biliary cholangitis have increased in several regions. In contrast, there is limited data dealing with the trend of the epidemiology of primary sclerosing cholangitis worldwide. Physicians should consider the epidemiologic characteristics of autoimmune liver disease because early diagnosis and proper treatment might prevent the progression of advanced liver disease. In addition, more sophisticated epidemiologic studies will be needed to elucidate the trend of these rare diseases nationwide.

Keyword

Epidemiology; Hepatitis; autoimmune; Liver cirrhosis; biliary; Cholangitis; sclerosing

Figure

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  Fig. 1 Distribution of incidence and prevalence of autoimmune hepatitis according to age in South Korea. (A) Average annual gender-adjusted incidence rate per hundred thousand population and number of incident cases (2011-2013). (B) Average gender-adjusted prevalence per hundred thousand population and number of prevalent cases (2009-2013). Adapted from the article of Kim et al. (PLoS One 2017;12:e0182391).2

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  Fig. 2 Trend of the number of patients with autoimmune hepatitis in South Korea according to the ICD-10 code (K75.4) based on the Healthcare Bigdata Hub in Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service.

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  Fig. 3 Distribution of incidence and prevalence of primary biliary cholangitis according to age in South Korea. (A) Average annual gender-adjusted incidence rate per million population and number of incident cases (2011-2013). (B) Average gender-adjusted prevalence per million population and number of prevalent cases (2009-2013). Adapted from the article of Kim et al. (Aliment Pharmacol Ther 2016;43:154-162).11

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  Fig. 4 Trend of the number of patients with primary biliary cholangitis in South Korea according to the ICD-10 code (K74.3) based on the Healthcare Bigdata Hub in Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service.

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