For the most part, cirrhosis of the liver in Europe and the U.S. is attributed to alcoholism, but on Taiwan, with the exception of small towns and villages in mountainous areas, excessive drinking is not serious. In view of the fact that more than eighty percent of liver cirrhosis patients are carriers of hepatitis B, cancer of the liver and cirrhosis of the liver are closely related.
大致說來，歐美肝硬化患者雖多，但多肇因於酒精過量；而在台灣，除了山地鄉鎮外，酗酒並不嚴重，且就百分之八十以上的肝硬化患者是 B 型肝炎帶原者的事實看來，B 型肝炎與肝硬化也脫不了干繫。