Canada: Psychosis, Hepatitis C linked to high death rate in Downtown Eastside: UBC

The mortality rate in the Downtown Eastside is eight times the national average, according to a new UBC study that followed 371 people for about four years. 

 

The death rate in the Downtown Eastside is eight times higher than the Canadian average, and treatable problems are linked to mortality, according to research from the University of British Columbia published last month.

Psychosis and liver problems related to hepatitis C were the highest risk factors for mortality, according to the study of 371 people over about four years.

Researchers recruited the participants from single-room occupancy hotels and the Downtown Community Court. Thirty-one of them died.

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Hepatitis C rates in Oregon soar above national average

"About 80 percent of the people who die from hepatitis C in Oregon are between 45 to 64 years old."

When it comes to viral infections in Oregon, hepatitis C is far deadlier than AIDS.

A report out this week shows that infections from hepatitis C remained fairly stable in Oregon between 2009 and 2013 but deaths from the virus climbed steadily over that period. They're now six times higher than deaths from AIDS.

"There are 5,000 people living with HIV in our state," said Dr. Ann Thomas, a public health physician. "There are almost 10 times as many people living with hepatitis C."

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HCV increases mortality among patients with CKD

Veterans with chronic kidney disease and hepatitis C virus infection were found to have an increased rate of mortality, risk of lower kidney function and incidence of loss of kidney function vs. veterans without the infection, according to new study data.

“Hepatitis C affects 4 million Americans [and] previous studies have not established unanimously whether hepatitis C is associated with the development and progression of chronic kidney disease,” Csaba P. Kovesdy, MD, director of the Clinical Outcomes and Clinical Trials Program at Memphis VA Medical Center in Tenn., told Healio.com/Hepatology. “[The study] examined the association of hepatitis C infection with mortality, with the development of new onset chronic kidney disease, with end stage renal disease and with the speed of loss of kidney function in over 1 million U.S. veterans. We found that hepatitis C infection was associated with a significantly increased risk of all these end points.”

Molnar MZ, et al. Hepatology. 2015;doi:10.1002/hep.27664.

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The VA’s Hepatitis C Problem

Martin Dames is a highly decorated veteran of the Vietnam War. He received the Bronze Star for heroism in the combat zone and three Purple Hearts for injuries he suffered while fighting. He made it out alive, only to find out years later that those combat wounds got him infected with the hepatitis C virus (HCV), a deadly blood-borne pathogen discovered in 1989 that claims about 19,000 lives annually, a large number of them veterans. That number is growing every year.

A chronic infection in around 80 percent of cases, HCV often shows no signs of its corrosive presence until extensive liver scarring occurs after decades of infection. In some cases, the disease isn’t found until it has led to cirrhosis—advanced and potentially lethal amounts of scarring. Infection with the virus is a leading cause of liver cancer and transplants in the U.S.

Some 3.5 million Americans are infected, including an estimated 234,000 veterans. Approximately 174,000 veterans in government care have been diagnosed with hepatitis C, but an additional 50,000 are thought to carry the infection unbeknownst to them. For treatment, those veterans who know they are sick must go to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and its health care services extension: the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), the largest provider of hepatitis C care in the nation. The VHA serves nearly 9 million patients at over 1,700 sites, but as Dames and many other veterans.

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Death rates from viral hepatitis among U.S. adults aged 18 years or older, 1999 - 2011

CDC reports that the death rate from viral hepatitis rose 2.2 times among men aged 45-64 years from 1999 to 2011 and 2.3 times among women in that same age group.

CDC reports that the death rate from viral hepatitis rose 2.2 times among men aged 45-64 years from 1999 to 2011 and 2.3 times among women in that same age group. Specifically, the death rate for viral hepatitis for men aged 45-64 increased from 11.9 to 26.5 per 100,000 population, while the death rate for women aged 45-64 increased from 3.7 to 8.4 per 100,000. For men aged 18-44 years, the death rate decreased 60% during the study period, and the death rate for women aged 18-44 dropped 46% from 2003 to 2011. The death rate did not change for women over age 65, but it increased 40% for men in that age group from 2004 to 2011.

Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (01/02/15)

Source:  http://www.pharmacist.com/death-rates-viral-hepatitis-among-us-adults-aged-18-years-or-older-19992011