EPIDEMIOLOGY OF CHRONIC LIVER DISEASE IN NIGERIA: A REVIEW

Chronic liver disease is one of the major health issues which occur throughout the world irrespective of age, sex, region or race. Liver diseases have being ranked the fifth most common cause of death and the second leading cause of mortality amongst all digestive diseases with approximately 2 million deaths per year worldwide. Aimed at determining the relative prevalence of chronic liver diseases in Nigeria, this shows that up to 46% of global diseases and 59% of the mortality is due to chronic liver diseases and almost 35 million people in the world die of chronic diseases with liver disease rate steadily increasing over the years. In Nigeria, (35 million) 2-20% of the population, are infected with hepatitis B and C virus with a prevalence rate of 4.3%-23.3% and 0.5-15% been reported respectively from different part of the country depending on the geographical location. A prevalence rate of 4.3% was reported from Port Harcourt, 5.7% from Ilorin, 11.6% from Maiduguri, and 8.3% from Zaria, 6.78% from Ado-Ekiti among pregnant women, 13.50% from Lagos, 11.50% from Abuja Urban among HIV Patients with a seroprevalence of 23.3% been reported among patients attending all clinics in Kano.