Characteristic geoepidemiology of primary biliary cholangitis in Taiwan: A nationwide population-based study

Data on the geoepidemiology and outcomes of primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) in Asia are limited; thus, we aimed to collect and assess this information for Taiwan.

A nationwide population-based cohort study was undertaken using data from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database. Primary biliary cholangitis was defined by the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification code 571.6 based on alkaline phosphatase and antimitochondrial antibody measurements and ursodeoxycholic acid treatment.

During 2002-2015, 2737 patients (2137 female patients; mean age, 57.78 years) had PBC. The average annual age- and sex-adjusted prevalence and incidence rates of PBC were 8.092/10⁵ and 1.148/10⁵ , respectively. Prevalent cases peaked in patients aged 50-59 years; the female-to-male ratio was 4.21. Annual prevalence rates increased with time (average percentage change, 12.03%; p < 0.0001). The annual incidence rates decreased with time (-7.39%; p = 0.000011) in female patients (-8.94%; p = 0.000003) but remained steady in male patients. Female-to-male and northern-to-southern relative risks of PBC incidence rates ranged from 2.2675 to 4.3318 and from 1.5707 to 3.1725, respectively. The 14-year hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cumulative incidence was 9.11%, and the mortality rate was 32.44%; the cumulative incidences of dyslipidemia, thyroid disease, and extrahepatic cancers were 65.13%, 24.40%, and 12.79%, respectively. Higher cumulative incidences of HCC (p = 0.0064) and mortality (p < 0.0001) were noted in male than female PBC patients; southern Taiwan PBC patients had higher cumulative incidences of mortality (p < 0.0001) than their northern counterparts.

In Taiwan, decreasing trends in incidence rates and the female-to-male ratio of PBC patients and specific sex and geographic impacts on the incidence rates and outcomes of PBC demand further investigation.