Background & aims: Acute viral hepatitis (AVH) represents an important global health problem; however, the progress in understanding AVH is limited because of the priority of combating persistent HBV and HCV infections. Therefore, an improved understanding of the burden of AVH is required to help design strategies for global intervention.

Methods: Data on 4 major AVH types, including acute hepatitis A, B, C, and E, excluding D, were collected by the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2019 database. Age-standardized incidence rates and disability-adjusted life year (DALY) rates for AVH were extracted from GBD 2019 and stratified by sex, level of socio-demographic index (SDI), country, and territory. The association between the burden of AVH and socioeconomic development status, as represented by the SDI, was described.

Results: In 2019, there was an age-standardized incidence rate of 3,615.9 (95% CI 3,360.5-3,888.3) and an age-standardized DALY rate of 58.0 (47.3-70.0) per 100,000 person-years for the 4 major types of AVH. Among the major AVH types, acute hepatitis A caused the heaviest burden. There was a significant downward trend in age-standardized DALY rates caused by major incidences of AVH between 1990 and 2019. In 2019, regions or countries located in West and East Africa exhibited the highest age-standardized incidence rates of the 4 major AVH types. These rates were stratified by SDI: high SDI and high-middle SDI locations recorded the lowest incidence and DALY rates of AVH, whereas the low-middle SDI and low SDI locations showed the highest burden of AVH.

Conclusions: The socioeconomic development status and burden of AVH are associated. Therefore, the GBD 2019 data should be used by policymakers to guide cost-effective interventions for AVH.

Lay summary: We identified a negative association between socioeconomic development status and the burden of acute viral hepatitis. The lowest burden of acute viral hepatitis was noted for rich countries, whereas the highest burden of acute viral hepatitis was noted for poor countries.