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Liver cancer deaths have surged since 2000, CDC officials say. Here's how Virginia fits in.

Virginian-Pilot - 7/17/2018

July 17--The number of Americans dying from liver cancer has steadily climbed over the past 16 years, according to a report released Tuesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Between 2000 and 2016, the death rate among Americans 25 or older rose about 43 percent. During that time it went from the country's ninth leading cause of cancer death to sixth.

The rates were highest among baby boomers and older Americans, and higher among men than women.

"The rising mortality rate is not because liver cancer is getting deadlier," Houston-based hepatologist Dr. Joseph Galati wrote in a statement. "It's that Americans are getting less healthy."

That's because nearly three-quarters of liver cancers are caused by underlying liver disease, which can be tough to spot before developing into cancer, according to CNN.

Obesity, excessive alcohol consumption and infection with the hepatitis B or C viruses are major risk factors. The latter is spread through blood-to-blood contact that could come through the sharing of needles, making it another manifestation of the opioid crisis.

About 28 percent of Virginia's adults and 12 percent of its children are currently obese, according to a CDC state profile.

Here are the biggest takeaways from this week's CDC report:

* Baby boomers and the elderly are rapidly developing liver cancer. Death rates for people aged 25 to 44 stayed steady at about 0.5 per 100,000, and those aged 45 to 54 around 4.5. But for adults between 55 and 64, death rates more than doubled from 9.3 in 2000 to 19.5 in 2016. The next two age groups also saw large increases, with those 75 and older reaching a rate of 40.2 deaths per 100,000 in 2016.

* Virginia falls roughly in the middle of the pack. Virginia saw a 2016 death rate of 9.9, a total of 639 deaths. That compares to a high of 16.8 in the District of Columbia and a low of 6 in Vermont.

* Death rates for men are substantially higher than women. In 2000, about 10.5 men and 4.5 women per 100,000 died from liver cancer. By 2016 that rose to 15 men and 6.3 women. Those are increases of at least 40 percent for both sexes.

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