The notification rates for hepatitis B and hepatitis C have both decreased over time. Notification rates for both diseases were higher in 2010 (31.1 and 49.9 cases per 100,000 population respectively) than in 2019 (23.2 and 36.6 cases per 100,000 population).
Hepatitis B
Age groups
Between 2010 and 2019, ages 25-29, 30-34 and 35-39 years had the highest Hepatitis B notification rates, all of which decreased over this period from 71.6 to 35.3; 70.4 to 52.2; and 53.4 to 49.3 per 100,000 respectively. During this same period, notification rates for ages over 40 years remained stable, whereas they decreased in ages 5-19 and 20-24 years from 19.0 to 7.5 and 43.2 to 17.9 per 100,000 persons respectively. Similar trends were observed for both sexes within each of these age groups.
For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander notification rates, please refer to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cancer Control Indicators – Notification of Hepatitis B and C notifications
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
Over the period 2015-2019, the age-standardised Hepatitis B notification rate in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population decreased by over 50% from 52.7 to 24.5 per 100,000 population. During this same period, a decrease of 14%, from 21.3 to 18.3 per 100,000 population was observed in the non-Indigenous population.
Between 2015 and 2019, Hepatitis B notification rates were consistently higher in Indigenous males, compared to Indigenous females. This pattern of higher notification rates in males compared to females was also observed in the non-Indigenous population.
Remoteness
In 2008, Hepatitis B notification rates were highest in Remote and Very Remote areas combined (46 per 100,000 population), followed by Major Cities (35 per 100,000 population) and Inner and Outer Regional areas (13 per 100,000 population). In 2019, all regions reported a decrease in notification rates, with the highest rate applying in Major Cities (26.8 per 100,000 population) followed by Remote (19.3 per 100,000 population) and Regional areas (10.6 per 100,000 population).
This pattern of notification rates for 2008 to 2019 was also observed by sex for Major Cities. By comparison, Regional and Remote notification rates were less consistent in 2010-2013, with a high variation between males and females (notifications per 100,000 population for 2010: 34.3 for males and 46.4 for females; for 2011: 41.6 for males and 32.7 for female; for 2012: 37.9 for males and 27.2 for females; and for 2013, 42.3 for males and 30.0 for females).
In 2008, Hepatitis B notification rates for males and females were highest in Remote and Very Remote areas combined (50 and 41 per 100,000 population respectively), followed by Major Cities (38 and 32 per 100,000 population respectively) and Inner and outer regional areas (16 and 11 per 100,000 population respectively). During 2019, notification rates per 100,000 population were highest in Major Cities (29.1 and 24.4 respectively) followed by Remote areas (21.8 and 16.3 respectively) and Regional areas (11.4 and 9.8 respectively).
For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander notification rates, please refer to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cancer Control Indicators – Notification of Hepatitis B and C notifications
Hepatitis C
Age groups
Between 2010 and 2019, ages 25-39 years had the highest Hepatitis C notification rate, which decreased by 38% over this period from 95.9 per 100,000 persons in 2010, to 59.4 per 100,000 in 2019. During the same period, notifications for ages over 40 years and 15-24 years remained relatively stable (51 to 40.6 per 100,000 persons and 38.0 to 33.2 per 100,000 persons respectively). Similar trends were observed for both sexes within each of these age groups.
For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander notification rates, please refer to the M&R Framework
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
Over the period 2015-2019, the age-standardised Hepatitis C notification rate in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population increased by 15%, from 173.1 to 198.6 per 100,000 population. This increase may reflect a greater exposure to injecting risk behaviours and relatively high rates of incarceration among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.8 During this same period, a corresponding decrease in notification rate of 25% was observed from 42.0 to 31.3 per 100,000 non-Indigenous people.
Between 2015 and 2019, Hepatitis C notification rates were consistently higher in Indigenous males than Indigenous females. This pattern of higher notifications in males was also observed in the non-Indigenous population.
Differences by sex during 2015-2019 were as follows:
Hepatitis C notification rates increased by 19% from 236.4 to 282.2 per 100,000 for Indigenous males and increased by 3% from 111.1 to 114.5 per 100,000 for Indigenous females.
Hepatitis C notification rates decreased in non-Indigenous people from 56.1 to 43.8 per 100,000 for males (22% decrease) and 28.0 to 18.9 per 100,000 for females (33% decrease).
Remoteness
Between 2010 and 2019, notification rates for Hepatitis C were highest in Major Cities but remained relatively stable during this period (14% decrease). In contrast, notification rates in Remote areas decreased by 52% (39.9 to 19.3 per 100,000 population), and in Regional areas by 21% (13.5 to 10.6 per 100,000 population). The overall trend for remoteness areas was a decrease in notification rates.
During 2010-2019, notification rates for males indicated a relatively stable decrease in Regional areas (20% decrease) and Major Cities (23% decrease), but fluctuated in Remote areas (an overall 36% decrease, 34.3 to 21.8 per 100,000 population, with a peak in 2013 at 42.3 per 100,00 population). For females, a decrease in notification rates was observed across all regions, with the highest being 65% in Remote areas (46.4 to 16.3 per 100,000 population) and a 28% decrease in Major Cities (33.8 to 24.4 per 100,000 population), and in Regional areas (12.5 to 9.8 per 100,000 population).
For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander notification rates, please refer to the M&R Framework