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February 18, 2017

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Medicine a major cause of liver injury

DRUGS — traditional Chinese and Western — are the main cause of liver failure in the country, accounting for about a third of hospital patients, said a national study by medical experts.

The study, co-authored by Renji Hospital’s Mao Yimin, said the issue was largely ignored.

He was speaking at the annual meeting of Asian Pacific Association for the Study of the Liver in Shanghai yesterday.

The survey covered 30,000 patients in 303 hospitals in 31 provinces.

Chinese herbs are the worst, the survey found, accounting for 20 percent of patients. Antibiotics were also a major cause.

“We also found patients taking Traditional Chinese Medicine has a longer latent period than those taking western medicines, making the diagnosis and treatment more difficult,” said Mao, a leading expert.

“We have set up a national database for drug-induced liver illness research since 2014. It has become the largest database in the world,” he said.

He said research into biomarkers had also started.

Hepatitis is another major cause. The association has joined the World Health Organization’s program to eliminate hepatitis by 2030.

In China, more than 100 million people have hepatitis B or C.


 

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