The rates of liver cancer in the United States more than doubled between 1990 and 2010 while deaths resulting from cirrhosis jumped 43 percent, the National AIDS Treatment Advocacy Project (NATAP) reports. Specifically, an estimated 9,300 Americans died of liver cancer in 1990 and 19,500 in 2010, according to statistics charting the top causes of death in the United States and published in JAMA, The Journal of the American Medical Association. This increase may be a consequence of hepatitis C virus (HCV), which is a major cause of liver cancer, the study authors project.

At the same time, overall life expectancy for Americans increased from 75.2 years in 1990 to 78.2 years in 2010.

Overall, liver cancer contributed to 184,000 years of lost life (YLL) due to premature mortality in 1990 and 398,000 in 2010.

Cirrhosis, also a major consequence of hep C, caused 35,500 deaths and 917,300 YLLs in 1990 and 49,500 deaths and 1,232,700 YLLs in 2010.

Deaths from AIDS, meanwhile, plummeted, causing 28,600 deaths and 1,351,100 YLLs in 1990 and 12,100 deaths and 479,200 YLLs in 2010.

To read the NATAP report, click here.