A descriptive study of racial inequalities in mortality from hepatocellular cancer before and after licensure of lifesaving drugs for hepatitis C virus in the United States.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Since 1979, mortality from hepatocellular cancer (HCC) has doubled in the United States (US). Lifesaving drugs, prohibitively expensive for some, were approved and marketed to treat hepatitis C virus (HCV), a major risk factor for HCC, beginning in 1997. After the prior introduction of other lifesaving innovations, including active retroviral drug therapy for human immunodeficiency virus and surfactant for respiratory distress syndrome of the newborn, racial inequalities in their mortalities increased in the US. In this descriptive study, we explored racial inequalities in mortality from HCC before and after licensure of HCV drugs in the US.

Methods

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Wide-ranging ONline Data for Epidemiologic Research (WONDER) were

SUBMITTER: Levine RS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7200781 | biostudies-literature | 2020 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature