HEPAHEALTH I Report Epidemiological and Risk Factors data

The HEPAHEALTH project consists of three related reviews
conducted to summarise the
current epidemiological situation
regarding liver disease in Europe
...to examine trends in risk factors associated
with liver disease and identify potential
interven-tions and policies which could be
effective in reducing the burden of liver disease.
Databases summarising the data collected
were collated.
This report first describes the data collected on
the epidemiological burden of liver diseases in
35 European countries. The most up-to-date
picture of the prevalence of and mortality from
all liver diseases is presented, after which the
contribution of categories of liver disease on the
total burden by country is examined. The focus
then shifts to on historical trends in mortality
and prevalence data, by liver disease category,
Introduction
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in order to better understand current patterns
in the epidemiological data.
In the second review, the current and historical
patterns in the main modifiable risk factors for
liver disease are summarised: alcohol consumption, obesity and diabetes. The aim was to
understand the association between these risk
factors and liver disease by reviewing the
literature and analysing collected data.
Finally, this project reports on the recent evidence behind the main public health measures
and policies for reducing the burden of liver
disease, through interventions aimed at the
main risk factors for liver disease.
This report also contains several focus sections
in which includes information on the limitations
in data collection are discussed, as well as
a summary of a qualitative interview study
conducted on liver disease experts, in order to

triangulate and supplement findings from the
formal review of databases and the literature.