Associations of Race and Ethnicity with Hepatocellular Carcinoma, Decompensation, and Mortality in US Veterans with Cirrhosis

BACKGROUND: Among patients with cirrhosis, it remains unclear whether there are racial/ethnic differences in cirrhosis complications and mortality. We examined the associations between race/ethnicity and risk for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), cirrhosis decompensation, and all-cause mortality overall and by cirrhosis etiology. METHODS: US Veterans diagnosed with cirrhosis from 2001 to 2014 (n = 120,992), due to hepatitis C virus (HCV; n = 55,814), alcohol-associated liver disease (ALD; n = 36,323), hepatitis B virus (HBV; n = 1,972), nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD; n = 17,789), or other (n = 9,094), were followed through 2020 for incident HCC (n = 10,242), cirrhosis decompensation (n = 27,887), and mortality (n = 81,441). Multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression was used to estimate adjusted hazard ratios (aHR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI). RESULTS: Compared with non-Hispanic White patients, Hispanic patients had higher risk for HCC overall (aHR, 1.32; 95% CI, 1.24–1.41) and by cirrhosis etiology, particularly for ALD- (aHR, 1.63; 95% CI, 1.42–1.87) and NAFLD-cirrhosis (aHR, 1.76; 95% CI, 1.41–2.20), whereas non-Hispanic Black patients had lower HCC risk in ALD- (aHR, 0.79; 95% CI, 0.63–0.98) and NAFLD-cirrhosis (aHR, 0.54; 95% CI, 0.33–0.89). Asian patients had higher HCC risk (aHR, 1.70; 95% CI, 1.29–2.23), driven by HCV- and HBV-cirrhosis. Non-Hispanic Black patients had lower risk for cirrhosis decompensation overall (aHR, 0.71; 95% CI, 0.68–0.74) and by cirrhosis etiology. There was lower risk for mortality among all other racial/ethnic groups compared with non-Hispanic White patients. CONCLUSIONS: Race/ethnicity is an important predictor for risk of developing HCC, decompensation, and mortality. IMPACT: Future research should examine factors underlying these racial/ethnic differences to inform prevention, screening, and treatment for patients with cirrhosis.