Effect of ethnicity on the clinical presentation and outcome of autoimmune hepatitis

Abstract

Autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) is a progressive inflammatory disorder affecting children and adults of both sexes. Although AIH is known to occur in all geographical areas, racial differences have not been studied systematically. The paper by Wong et al. reports a retrospective study analyzing AIH epidemiology among ethnically different populations referred to a tertiary-care hospital. A total of 183 patients were included and divided according to their ethnicity into Hispanic, Asian and Caucasian groups. Age at diagnosis and sex distribution was similar in all three groups. Compared with Caucasians, Asian patients had a higher international normalized ratio, whereas, in addition to higher international normalized ratio, Hispanics also showed lower levels of albumin and platelets, as well as higher prevalence of biopsy-proven cirrhosis at presentation. Despite this, Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that Hispanics had the best survival outcomes, followed by Caucasians. Asians had the poorest survival outcome.