Etiología de la cirrosis: los cambios epidemiológicos entre los períodos 1995-2002 y 2010-2017
The aim of the study was to describe the clinical characteristics and the proportion of the different etiologies of liver cirrhosis (LC) diagnosed between 2010 and 2017 and compare with the period 1995-2002. In the 2010-2017 period, 260 patients with LC were diagnosed. The etiologies were: Alcohol 94 patients (36.1%), chronic hepatitis C (HCV) 87 (33.4%), non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) 35 (13.4%), primary biliary cholangitis 13 (PBC) (5.0%), autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) 12 (4.6%), chronic hepatitis B 7 (2.7%), hereditary hemochromatosis 1 (0.4%) and cryptogenic 11 (4.2%). Compared with the 1995-2002 period that included 252 patients, there was a significant reduction in the number and percentage of LC by alcohol and cryptogenic and an increase in those associated with NAFLD and AIH. In comparison with the period 1995-2002, a better hepatic function of LC was observed in general, and especially in those related to alcohol and HCV. However, in the 2010-2017 period, LC by alcohol compared with those associated with HCV and NAFLD showed a significantly greater deterioration in liver function. The main etiologies of LC are alcohol and HCV followed by NAFLD and autoimmune liver diseases (PBC and AIH). Although in the current period LC was diagnosed at earlier stages, LC by alcohol presented a low percentage of initial diagnoses in the asymptomatic stage.