Liver Disease in Singapore

Liver disease is a significant health issue in Singapore. In the Singapore Burden of Disease Survey, liver cancer and liver cirrhosis contributed 3.2 and 0.9% of years of life lost (YLL) out of 182,753 YLL respectively. Liver cancer was ranked 8th and liver cirrhosis was ranked 20th in YLL. Liver cancer is the 5th most common cancer in males, and has an age-adjusted rate of 17.6 per 100,000 population. The underlying etiology of liver cirrhosis is chronic hepatitis B (CHB) in 63.3%, alcohol in 11.2%, cryptogenic in 9%, and chronic hepatitis C (CHC) in 6.9%. The overall seroprevalence rate of CHB is 3.6%, while CHC is approximately 0.1%. The trend in prevalence of liver cancer is gradually reducing as is CHB. However, less is known about alcoholic liver disease and fatty liver disease and there is some evidence that the latter is increasing. Singapore has a multilayered health care system designed to provide basic health care needs to the population. There are various schemes available that provide subsidized and assisted health care for treatment of hepatitis B and C as well as liver transplantation. Health policy with regard to a national action plan has not yet been developed and there is room for health care specialists, government and nongovernment agencies to work together to tackle liver disease in Singapore. How to cite this article: Muthiah M, Chong CH, Lim SG. Liver Disease in Singapore. Euroasian J Hepato-Gastroenterol 2018;8(1):66-68.