Mortality trends in chronic liver disease and cirrhosis from 1981 to 2015 in Taiwan

BACKGROUND: Globally, the morbidity and mortality rates for chronic liver disease and cirrhosis are increasing. The National Viral Hepatitis Therapy Program in Taiwan was implemented in 2003, but evidence regarding the program’s effect on the trends of mortality for chronic liver disease and cirrhosis is limited. METHODS: We analyzed mortality rates for chronic liver disease and cirrhosis in Taiwan for the period from 1981 to 2015. An autoregressive age–period–cohort model was used to estimate age, period, and cohort effects. RESULTS: Age-adjusted mortality rates for chronic liver disease and cirrhosis all displayed a flat but variable trend from 1981 to 2004 and a decreasing trend thereafter for both sexes. The age–period–cohort model revealed differential age gradients between the two sexes; mortality rates in the oldest age group (90–94 years) were 12 and 66 times higher than those in the youngest age group (30–34 years) for men and women, respectively. The period effects indicated that mortality rates declined after 2004 in both sexes. Mortality rates decreased in men but increased in women in the 1891–1940 birth cohorts and increased in both sexes in the birth cohorts from 1950 onward. CONCLUSIONS: The National Viral Hepatitis Therapy Program in Taiwan may have contributed to the decrease in mortality rates for chronic liver disease and cirrhosis in adulthood. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12963-021-00269-w.