Causes, Risk Factors, And Complications Of Primary Biliary Cholangitis

Age

The onset of primary biliary cholangitis tends to happen when individuals are between thirty and sixty years old, though it can occur at any point. The average age of onset is thirty-nine years old, but it has been recorded in individuals as young as twenty-two and as old as ninety-three. This is most likely because the early stages of the disease do not cause symptoms. Unless it is discovered through other routine blood tests, one may not know they have the disease until they start to feel it. Fatigue and intense itching are the most common initial symptoms, and many doctors can mistake these for other ailments.

Learn about how gender impacts primary biliary cholangitis now.

Gender

Doctors are not sure why, but primary biliary cholangitis affects exceedingly more women than men. It is estimated up to ninety percent of individuals with this disease are female, and one in one thousand women over forty have it. It is the most common liver condition and the most common cause of liver transplants among women. Women who were diagnosed with primary biliary cholangitis before thirty years old and all men diagnosed with the disease tend to be least responsive to treatments delaying its progression. Primary biliary cholangitis tends to be most prominent in women of Caucasian descent in Europe and North America.

Keep reading to learn about another factor that plays a part in primary biliary cholangitis.