Thirty-year outcomes of the national hepatitis B immunization program in Taiwan.

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection causes infant fulminant hepatitis (IFH), and chronic HBV infection may progress to chronic liver disease (CLD) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Tai-wan launched a nationwide HBV immunization program for newborns in July 1984, 1 which has successfully lowered the prevalence of chronic HBV carriers, incidence of HCC, and mortality of IFH in vaccinated birth cohorts. 2-4 The mortality of CLD before and after HBV immunization has never been examined. We assessed the 30-year outcomes of the immunization program. The mortality of IFH, CLD, and HCC and the incidence of HCC were compared among birth cohorts born before and after the launch of the program.