Hepatitis B and Asians
HBV disproportionately affects Asian and Pacific Islanders (APIs).
The 3-shot hepatitis B vaccine can provide lifelong protection against HBV, thus eliminating the most common cause of liver cancer.
- Of all the people with chronic HBV infection in the world, approximately two-thirds live in Asia with 93 million in China alone.
- As many as 1 in 12 Asians and foreign-born Asian Americans is living with chronic HBV infection, compared to 1 in 1000 in the non-Asian U.S. population.
- Although Asian Americans make up only 4% of the U.S. population, they account for over half of the estimated 1.25 million individuals with chronic HBV infection.
- Liver cancer caused by chronic HBV infection is the second leading cause of cancer death for Asian men living in the United States.
- Liver cancer incidence is up to 8 times higher in Asian American men than in their white counterparts.
- Hepatitis B and liver cancer constitute the greatest health disparity between Asian and white Americans.
- 2 out of 3 API tested positive are not aware they are infected
