In this study, cirrhosis complications and mortality data were retrospectively analysed from 746 cirrhosis patients under secondary public hospital care in South Auckland, between the years 2000 and 2011. Ethnicities were mostly European/Other (39.9%), Pacific islanders (21.6%), Southeast Asian/ Chinese (17.8%) and Maori (12.3%). 68.4% of the cohort were male. The common primary aetiologies for cirrhosis were chronic hepatitis B (CHB) cirrhosis (37.3%), alcoholic liver disease (ALD) cirrhosis (24.1%), chronic hepatitis C (CHC) cirrhosis (22.3%) and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) cirrhosis (16.4%). The hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) mortality rates were highest in NAFLD and CHB cirrhosis groups (3.0 and 3.1 per 100 patient-years, respectively), compared with ALD and CHC groups (2.2 and 1.4 per 100 patient-years; p<0.05 for all comparisons). Higher rates of all-cause and non-HCC mortality were observed among patients with ALD and NAFLD cirrhosis compared with viral hepatitis cirrhosis cohorts. Incidence rate ratios (IRR) for HCC incidence, liver-related mortality and HCC mortality were 1.087, 1.098 and 1.114, respectively (all p<0.001), suggesting increasing incidence and disease burden over the study period.
