Numbers and rates* of deaths with Hepatitis C virus infection listed as a cause of death† among residents, by demographic characteristics — United States, 2017–2021

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◀ Table 3.7
Perinatal Hepatitis B ▶
Numbers and rates* of deaths with Hepatitis C virus infection listed as a cause of death† among residents, by demographic characteristics — United States, 2017–2021
The numbers and rates of death with hepatitis C virus infection listed as a cause of death among US residents by demographic characteristics, including age group, sex, race and ethnicity, and US Department of Health and Human Services region. Demographic characteristics are listed in the first column. Each year has two columns of data; the first column displays the number of reported deaths, and the second column lists the rates of death per 100,000 population with 95% confidence intervals for 2017 – 2021.
Characteristics 2017
No.		 2017 Rate*
(95% CI)		 2018
No.		 2018 Rate*
(95% CI)		 2019
No.		 2019 Rate*
(95% CI)		 2020
No.		 2020 Rate*
(95% CI)		 2021
No.		 2021 Rate*
(95% CI)
Total 17,253 4.13
(4.07–4.20)		 15,713 3.72
(3.66–3.78)		 14,242 3.33
(3.28–3.39)		 14,863 3.45
(3.39–3.50)		 13,895 3.18
(3.13–3.24)
Age (Years)
0–34 180 0.12
(0.10–0.14)		 212 0.14
(0.12–0.16)		 170 0.11
(0.10–0.13)		 229 0.15
(0.13–0.17)		 181 0.12
(0.10–0.14)
35–44 507 1.24
(1.13–1.35)		 499 1.21
(1.10–1.31)		 472 1.13
(1.03–1.24)		 544 1.29
(1.18–1.40)		 587 1.35
(1.24–1.46)
45–54 2,556 6.03
(5.80–6.27)		 2,040 4.90
(4.69–5.11)		 1,676 4.10
(3.90–4.30)		 1,555 3.85
(3.66–4.04)		 1,443 3.55
(3.36–3.73)
55–64 8,275 19.70
(19.28–20.13)		 7,297 17.26
(16.87–17.66)		 6,304 14.85
(14.48–15.22)		 6,053 14.27
(13.92–14.63)		 5,342 12.48
(12.15–12.82)
65–74 4,397 14.81
(14.38–15.25)		 4,429 14.52
(14.10–14.95)		 4,499 14.29
(13.87–14.71)		 5,195 15.96
(15.53–16.39)		 5,112 15.18
(14.77–15.60)
≥75 1,329 6.28
(5.94–6.61)		 1,235 5.63
(5.32–5.94)		 1,117 4.95
(4.66–5.24)		 1,286 5.56
(5.26–5.87)		 1,230 5.55
(5.24–5.85)
Sex
Male 12,287 6.12
(6.01–6.23)		 11,242 5.53
(5.42–5.63)		 10,229 4.96
(4.86–5.05)		 10,551 5.07
(4.97–5.17)		 9,801 4.61
(4.52–4.70)
Female 4,966 2.32
(2.26–2.39)		 4,471 2.09
(2.02–2.15)		 4,013 1.83
(1.77–1.89)		 4,312 1.94
(1.88–2.00)		 4,094 1.85
(1.79–1.91)
Race/Ethnicity§
White, non-Hispanic 10,781 3.70
(3.63–3.78)		 9,858 3.35
(3.28–3.42)		 9,056 3.08
(3.01–3.14)		 9,397 3.18
(3.12–3.25)		 8,752 2.98
(2.91–3.04)
Black, non-Hispanic 3,262 7.03
(6.79–7.28)		 2,978 6.31
(6.08–6.54)		 2,646 5.44
(5.23–5.65)		 2,743 5.63
(5.42–5.85)		 2,442 5.01
(4.81–5.22)
Hispanic 2,399 5.29
(5.08–5.51)		 2,190 4.64
(4.44–4.84)		 1,865 3.84
(3.66–4.02)		 1,979 4.00
(1.28–1.60)		 1,901 3.67
(3.50–3.84)
Asian/Pacific Islander, non-Hispanic 368 1.86
(1.67–2.05)		 300 1.43
(1.27–1.60)		 308 1.43
(1.27–1.59)		 324 1.44
(1.28–1.60)		 293 1.32
(1.17–1.48)
Asian, non-Hispanic n/a n/a 258 1.35
(1.18–1.51)		 269 1.35
(1.19–1.52)		 295 1.40
(1.24–1.57)		 272 1.27
(1.12–1.43)
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, non-Hispanic n/a n/a 20 3.49
(2.10–5.45)		 16 UR S UR 21 3.23
(2.00–4.94)
American Indian/Alaska Native, non-Hispanic 299 10.24
(9.04–11.44)		 240 9.21
(8.01–10.41)		 233 8.55
(7.42–9.68)		 287 10.64
(9.37–11.90)		 279 9.99
(8.78–11.19)
Multiple-race, non-Hispanic n/a n/a 126 2.97
(2.44–3.49)		 118 2.79
(2.27–3.30)		 113 2.54
(2.06–3.01)		 133 2.81
(2.33–3.30)
HHS Region: Regional Office
Region 1: Boston 602 2.97
(2.72–3.21)		 519 2.56
(2.33–2.79)		 448 2.15
(1.94–2.36)		 467 2.34
(2.11–2.56)		 395 1.93
(1.73–2.12)
Region 2: New York 1,043 2.76
(2.59–2.93)		 924 2.48
(2.31–2.64)		 780 2.06
(1.91–2.21)		 819 2.11
(2.81–3.15)		 722 1.83
(1.69–1.96)
Region 3: Philadelphia 1,441 3.53
(3.35–3.72)		 1,253 3.04
(2.87–3.22)		 1,185 2.85
(2.68–3.02)		 1,242 2.98
(2.81–3.15)		 1,233 2.92
(2.75–3.09)
Region 4: Atlanta 3,450 4.03
(3.89–4.16)		 3,160 3.60
(3.47–3.72)		 2,996 3.36
(3.24–3.49)		 3,097 3.45
(3.33–3.58)		 2,865 3.17
(3.05–3.29)
Region 5: Chicago 1,846 2.63
(2.51–2.75)		 1,762 2.52
(2.40–2.64)		 1,611 2.27
(2.15–2.38)		 1,750 2.45
(2.33–2.57)		 1,618 2.26
(2.15–2.38)
Region 6: Dallas 3,169 6.54
(6.31–6.77)		 2,907 5.85
(5.64–6.07)		 2,562 5.06
(4.86–5.25)		 2,570 4.98
(4.78–5.17)		 2,524 4.86
(4.67–5.06)
Region 7: Kansas City 589 3.24
(2.97–3.51)		 544 3.04
(2.78–3.30)		 496 2.67
(2.43–2.92)		 500 2.66
(2.42–2.90)		 457 2.34
(2.12–2.56)
Region 8: Denver 615 4.38
(4.02–4.73)		 636 4.45
(4.09–4.80)		 600 4.10
(3.77–4.44)		 682 4.57
(4.22–4.92)		 614 4.04
(3.71–4.36)
Region 9: San Francisco 3,330 5.37
(5.19–5.56)		 2,928 4.63
(4.46–4.80)		 2,564 4.00
(3.84–4.15)		 2,708 4.15
(3.99–4.31)		 2,410 3.74
(3.59–3.90)
Region 10: Seattle 1,168 6.38
(6.01–6.76)		 1,080 5.79
(5.43–6.14)		 1,000 5.27
(4.94–5.61)		 1,028 5.27
(4.94–5.60)		 1,057 5.36
(5.03–5.70)
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Source: CDC, National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), Multiple Cause of Death on CDC WONDER Online Database. Data for 2017 are from the 1999–2020 bridged–race file and data for 2018–2021 are from the 2018–2021 single–race file. Rates for 2018–2020 may differ from previously published rates due to the change from bridged–race to single–race categories. Data are reported for non-Hispanic Asian/Pacific Islander persons, and also separately for non-Hispanic Asian persons and non-Hispanic Native Hawaiian persons (shown in italics). Data are based on information from all death certificates filed in the vital records offices of the 50 states and the District of Columbia through the Vital Statistics Cooperative Program. Deaths of nonresidents (e.g., nonresident aliens, nationals living abroad, residents of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Virgin Islands, and other US territories) and fetal deaths are excluded. Accessed at CDC Wonder on March 13, 2023. CDC WONDER data set documentation and technical methods can be accessed here and here.
* Rates for race/ethnicity, sex, US Department of Health and Human Services region, and the overall total are age-adjusted per 100,000 US standard population during 2000 by using the following age group distribution (in years): <1, 1–4, 5–14, 15–24, 25–34, 35–44, 45–54, 55–64, 65–74, 75–84, and ≥85. Missing data are not included. For age-adjusted death rates, the age-specific death rate is rounded to one decimal place before proceeding to the next step in the calculation of age-adjusted death rates for NCHS Multiple Cause of Death on CDC WONDER. This rounding step might affect the precision of rates calculated for small numbers of deaths.
† Cause of death is defined as one of the multiple causes of death and is based on the International Classification of Diseases, 10th Rev. (ICD-10) codes B17.1, and B18.2 (hepatitis C).
§ The bridged-race categories were used for 2017 while single-race categories were used during 2018–2021. Single-race and bridged-race categories are not directly comparable (see Technical Notes).
¶ US Department of Health and Human Services regions were categorized according to the grouping of states and US territories assigned under each of the 10 Health and Human Services regional offices. For the purposes of this report, regions with US territories (Region 2 and Region 9) contain data from states only.
n/a: Not applicable. This race category was not available for 2017 data.
UR: Unreliable rate. Rates where death counts were less than 20 were not displayed because of the instability associated with those rates.
S: Suppressed. In order to prevent revealing information that may identify specific individuals, small data values are not available when the count falls below a ratio of the representative demographic population.

This table summarizes the characteristics of hepatitis C-associated deaths among residents in the United States. During 2021, a total of 13,895 hepatitis C-associated deaths were reported among US residents in the US Multiple Cause of Death data from the National Center for Health Statistics, resulting in an age-adjusted mortality rate of 3.18 deaths per 100,000 population.  

Hepatitis C-associated death rates were highest among persons aged 55–74 years, compared with other age categories, and deaths in this age group accounted for 75% of all hepatitis C-associated deaths reported during 2021. Non-Hispanic White persons accounted for 63% of all hepatitis C-listed deaths with a rate of 2.98 deaths per 100,000 population; however, the death rates among non-Hispanic American Indian/Alaska Native persons (9.99 deaths per 100,000 population) and non-Hispanic Black persons (5.01 deaths per 100,000 population) were 3.4 times and 1.7 times the rate among non-Hispanic White persons, respectively. Variations of disease rates by race or ethnicity may reflect systemic cultural, behavioral, environmental, and social factors, including structural racism. The highest hepatitis C-associated death rate was reported in US Department of Health and Human Services Region 10 (Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington), compared with other regions.

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