Objective To investigate the change trend of etiological burden of disease of liver cancer in the Chinese population from 1990 to 2019.

Methods The descriptive epidemiologic method was conducted. Based on the Global Burden of Disease data from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, the data related to liver cancer burden caused by hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, alcohol, nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and other factors, including number of new cases, the crude incidence rate, age-specific incidence rate, number of deaths, crude mortality rate and age-specific mortality rate, in the Chinese population from 1990 to 2019 were collected. The age-standardized rate was calculated based on the world standardized population structure in 2019 from the Global Burden of Disease data. Observation indicators: (1) the incidence of liver cancer caused by different etiologies in the Chinese population from 1990 to 2019; (2) the mortality of liver cancer caused by different etiologies in the Chinese population from 1990 to 2019; (3) the change trend of age-specific incidence rate of liver cancer caused by different etiologies in the Chinese population from 1990 to 2019; (4) the age-specific mortality rate of liver cancer caused by different etiologies in the Chinese population from 1990 to 2019. Count data were expressed as absolute numbers, percentages and ratio. Based on the junction point regression model, the Joinpoint software (V.4.9.1.0) was used to calculate the annual percentage change, average annual percentage change (AAPC) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) of age-specific incidence rate and age-specific mortality rate of liver cancer caused by different etiologies.

Results (1) The incidence of liver cancer caused by different etiologies in the Chinese population from 1990 to 2019. From 1990 to 2019, the number of new cases of liver cancer in Chinese population decreased from 236 825 to 210 462, and the crude incidence rate decreased from 20.01/100,000 to 14.80/100,000. The new cases of liver cancer caused by HBV infection, HCV infection and other factors showed a downward trend, and the absolute change rates were ‒14.76%, ‒3.98% and ‒26.67%, respectively. The new cases of liver cancer caused by alcohol and NASH showed a increase trend, and the absolute change rates were 9.31% and 13.91%, respectively. (2) The mortality of liver cancer caused by different etiologies in the Chinese population from 1990 to 2019. From 1990 to 2019, the number of deaths of liver cancer in Chinese population decreased from 232 449 to 187 700, and the crude mortality rate decreased from 19.64/100,000 to 13.20/100,000. The number of deaths of liver cancer caused by HBV infection, HCV infection and other factors showed a down-ward trend, and the absolute change rates were ‒23.34%, ‒10.99% and ‒33.75%, respectively. The number of deaths of liver cancer caused by alcohol showed a slow downward trend, and the absolute change rate was ‒0.51%. The number of deaths of liver cancer caused by NASH showed a increase trend, and the absolute change rate was 6.03%. (3) The change trend of age-specific incidence rate of liver cancer caused by different etiologies in the Chinese population from 1990 to 2019. From 1990 to 2019, the AAPC of age-specific incidence rate of liver cancer caused by HBV infection, HCV infection, alcohol, NASH and other factors was ‒3.61%(95%CI as ‒4.10% to ‒3.11%), ‒3.57%(95%CI as ‒3.99% to ‒3.14%), ‒2.79%(95%CI as ‒3.24% to ‒2.33%), ‒2.65%(95%CI as ‒3.09% to ‒2.21%) and ‒3.62%(95%CI as ‒4.05% to ‒3.19%), respectively. (4) The age-specific mortality rate of liver cancer caused by different etiologies in the Chinese population from 1990 to 2019. From 1990 to 2019, the AAPC of age-specific mortality rate of liver cancer caused by HBV infection, HCV infection, alcohol, NASH and other factors was ‒3.92%(95%CI as ‒4.42% to ‒3.41%), ‒3.90%(95%CI as ‒4.45% to ‒3.35%), ‒3.15%(95%CI as ‒3.71% to ‒2.58%), ‒2.86%(95%CI as ‒3.34% to ‒2.38%) and ‒4.09%(95%CI as ‒4.64% to ‒3.55%), respectively.

Conclusions From 1990 to 2019, the liver cancer burden of the Chinese population shows an overall downward trend, in which the liver cancer burden caused by HBV and HCV infection decreases the most, but HBV and HCV infection is still the main reason for the heavy burden of liver cancer. The age-specific incidence rate and age-specific mortality rate of liver cancer caused by alcohol and NASH show a downward trend, but the number of new cases of liver cancer caused by alcohol and NASH shows significant growth. The liver cancer burden caused by other factors shows a downward trend.