Global Burden and Trends of Acute Hepatitis C From 1990 to 2021: An Analysis Based on the 2021 Global Burden of Disease Study

Acute hepatitis C (AHC) represents a considerable challenge to global public health, although direct-acting antiviral (DAA) therapy has substantially improved therapeutic outcomes for hepatitis C virus infection. Data were exclusively obtained from the 2021 Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study, which examined trends in the burden of AHC in terms of incidence, mortality and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) across 204 countries and territories globally from 2009 to 2021. In 2021, there were 7,009,910.02 incident cases, 5474.37 deaths and 266,087.98 DALYs due to AHC. Between 1990 and 2021, the number of incident cases increased by 24.61%, whereas mortality and DALYs cases decreased by 45.66% and 46.57%, respectively. The age-standardised incidence rate (ASIR), age-standardised mortality rate (ASMR) and age-standardised DALYs rate (ASDR) exhibited a declining trend. In 2021, the highest ASIRs of AHC were observed in Central Sub-Saharan Africa and Central Asia. At a national level, Mongolia and Egypt reported the highest ASIRs in 2021. The ASIR of AHC was similar in males and females, while females had higher ASMR and ASDR than males. The highest ASIR was observed in children under 5 years of age. Additionally, a negative association was found between the ASIR, ASMR, ASDR of AHC and sociodemographic index values at the regional and national levels. Our findings underscore the persistent severity of the global burden of AHC; effective and targeted strategies are needed to reduce the overall burden.