Abstract
A substantial percentage of morbidity and mortality in the elderly is attributable to liver disease. The number of patients older than 65 years old with chronic liver disease has increased owing, in part, to improved management of chronic liver disease and cirrhosis as well as advances in the management of extrahepatic systemic diseases. The number of elderly patients with chronic hepatitis C is increasing because of the large cohort of middle-aged patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection who are growing older.
Chronic liver disease, including cirrhosis, was the ninth commonest cause of death in the United States in 1989
17
and in 1998,
63a
respectively. Mortality from cirrhosis in the United States accounted for 7.9 deaths per 100,000 population in 1993.
78
The rate of mortality from chronic liver disease was highest among patients aged 65 to 74 years (49 per 100,000 men, 26.7 per 100,000 women). These rates are 3.2 and 5.6 fold higher than those for men and women aged 35 to 44 years.
17
Although there are no liver diseases specific to advanced age, the presentation, clinical course, and management of liver disease in the elderly may differ in important respects from those for younger individuals.
