Hepatitis C in Canada: 2020 surveillance data update

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Organization: Public Health Agency of Canada
Published: 2023-03-03

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on reported hepatitis C case counts and rates in 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic reduced the demand for and access to services related to sexually transmitted and blood-borne infections, including harm reduction and testingFootnote 1. This likely impacted new hepatitis C diagnosis rates in 2020, by artificially reducing them. As parts of the country experienced different levels of disruptions due to COVID-19 during 2020, comparisons of hepatitis C case counts and rates between the provinces and territories may also be inaccurate.

Hepatitis C

Figure 1 shows the number and rates of reported hepatitis C from 2011 to 2020. The trends in this figure are described below:

Note: Hepatitis C reporting differed by province and territory from 2011 to 2020. See Appendix B for provincial and territorial hepatitis C reporting patterns.

Hepatitis C by sex and age group

Figure 1 shows the number and rates of reported hepatitis C from 2011 to 2020 and Table 3 summarizes the number of cases, rates, and proportions of hepatitis C by sex and age group reported in 2020. The trends in this figure and in this table are described below:

Figure 1. Number of reported cases and rates of hepatitis C overall and by sex in Canada, 2011 to 2020
Figure 1. Text version below.
Figure 1 - Text description
Table 1. Number of reported cases and rates of hepatitis C overall and by sex in Canada, 2011 to 2020
Year Total cases Male cases Female cases Total rate (per 100,000 population of Canada) Male rate (per 100,000 males) Female rate (per 100,000 females)
2011 10,113 6,365 3,657 29.5 37.5 21.2
2012 10,205 6,345 3,767 29.5 37.0 21.6
2013 10,366 6,527 3,751 29.7 37.7 21.3
2014 10,496 6,603 3,829 29.7 37.7 21.5
2015 10,920 6,767 4,088 30.7 38.3 22.8
2016 11,338 7,081 4,235 31.5 39.7 23.4
2017 11,837 7,215 4,565 32.5 40.0 24.9
2018 12,560 7,665 4,847 34.0 41.9 26.1
2019 11,470 7,021 4,400 30.6 37.8 23.4
2020 6,736 4,173 2,528 18.4 22.9 13.7

National annual hepatitis C rates were calculated using the number of hepatitis C cases from the Canadian Notifiable Disease Surveillance System as numerators and Statistics Canada April 2022 yearly population estimates as denominators. The ‘total’ case count and rate include all males, females and those who did not disclose their sex (unknown sex).
Hepatitis C reporting differed by province and territory from 2011 to 2020 (see Appendix B for provincial and territorial hepatitis C reporting patterns).

Hepatitis C by province and territory

In 2020, the national reported hepatitis C rate was 18.4 cases per 100,000 people. Provinces and territories that had rates of reported hepatitis C above the national rate included:

In 2020, provinces and territories with rates of reported hepatitis C below the national rate included:

DS: Data not shown where case counts are between one and four, inclusive.

In 2020, Manitoba did not provide hepatitis C surveillance data.

Acute hepatitis C in Canada, 2020

Acute hepatitis C by sex and age group, 2020

Hepatitis C continues to be a public health concern

Appendix A: Data tables corresponding to described hepatitis C information

Table 2. Number of reported cases and rates of reported hepatitis C overall and by infection status, 2020
Hepatitis C disease status Number of cases Rate per 100,000 population
AcuteFootnote 2 186 1.0
ChronicFootnote 3 2,012 18.6
UnspecifiedFootnote 4 4,538 14.4
Total 6,736 18.4

National annual rates of reported acuteFootnote 2, chronicFootnote 3 and unspecifiedFootnote 4 hepatitis C were computed using cases reported to the Canadian Notifiable Disease Surveillance System as numerators and Statistics Canada April 2022, 2020, population estimates as denominators.

Table 3. Number of reported cases, rates, and proportion of hepatitis C by sex and age group in Canada, 2020
Males Females Total
Age group (years) Cases (n) Rate (per 100,000 males) Proportion of all male cases Cases (n) Rate (per 100,000 females) Proportion of all female cases Cases (n) Rate (per 100,000 popula-tion) Proportion of all reported cases
<15 12 0.4 0.3% 20 0.7 0.8% 32 0.6 0.5%
15 to 19 22 2.1 0.5% 43 4.3 1.7% 66 3.2 1.0%
20 to 24 203 16.2 4.9% 224 19.5 8.9% 428 17.8 6.4%
25 to 29 444 33.6 10.7% 401 32.3 15.9% 849 33.1 12.6%
30 to 39 1,103 43.1 26.5% 681 26.9 26.9% 1795 35.3 26.7%
40 to 59 1,486 30.8 35.7% 702 14.3 27.8% 2198 22.6 32.7%
>60 896 21.1 21.5% 456 9.5 18.0% 1358 15.0 20.2%

National hepatitis C (including acuteFootnote 2, chronicFootnote 3 and unspecifiedFootnote 4 reported hepatitis C cases) age rates by sex and overall were computed using cases reported to the Canadian Notifiable Disease Surveillance System as numerators and Statistics Canada April 2022, 2020, population estimates as denominators. The ‘total’ case count and rate include all males, females and those who did not disclose their sex (unknown sex). There were 35 unknown sex hepatitis C cases in 2020.

Table 4. Number of reported cases, rates, and proportion of hepatitis C cases by province and territory, 2020
Jurisdiction Cases (n) Rate (per 100,000 population) Proportion of all reported hepatitis C cases
Canada 6,736 18.4 100.0%
British Columbia 1,433 27.8 21.3%
Alberta 601 13.6 8.9%
Saskatchewan 455 38.5 6.8%
Manitoba NA NA NA
Ontario 2,833 19.2 42.1%
Quebec 795 9.2 11.8%
New Brunswick 187 23.9 2.8%
Nova Scotia 247 25.2 3.7%
Newfoundland and Labrador 136 26.0 2.0%
Prince Edward Island 32 19.9 0.5%
Yukon Territories 11 26.1 0.2%
Northwest Territories DS DS DS
Nunavut DS DS DS

Provincial and territorial 2020 hepatitis C rates were calculated using the number of hepatitis C cases reported to the Canadian Notifiable Disease Surveillance System as numerators and Statistics Canada April 2022, 2020, population estimates as denominators. 
NA: In 2020, hepatitis C data were not provided by Manitoba.
DS: Data are not shown where case counts were between one and four, inclusive.

Table 5. Number of reported cases, rates, and proportion of acute hepatitis C by sex and age group in Canada, 2020
Males Females Total
Age group (years) Cases (n) Rate (per 100,000 males) Proportion of all male cases Cases (n) Rate (per 100,000 females) Proportion of all female cases Cases (n) Rate (per 100,000 popula-tion) Proportion of all reported cases
<15 0 0 0% 0 0 0% 0 0 0.0%
15 to 19 0 0 0% 5 1.0 6.6% 5 0.5 2.7%
20 to 24 5 0.8 4.6% 11 1.9 14.5% 16 1.3 8.6%
25 to 29 18 2.6 16.7% 20 3.1 26.3% 38 2.8 20.4%
30 to 39 44 3.1 40.7% 24 1.8 31.6% 69 2.5 37.1%
40 to 59 35 1.4 32.4% 13 0.5 17.1% 48 0.9 25.8%
>60 6 0.3 5.6% 3 0.1 3.9% 10 0.2 5.4%

National acute hepatitis C age rates by sex and overall were computed using acuteFootnote 2 hepatitis C cases reported to the Canadian Notifiable Disease Surveillance System as numerators and Statistics Canada April 2022, 2020, population estimates as denominators. The ‘total’ case count and rate include all males, females and those who did not disclose their sex (unknown sex). There were two unknown sex acute hepatitis C cases in 2020.
In 2020, six provinces and territories (British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Quebec, Nunavut, and Yukon Territories) provided reported acute hepatitis C case data.

Appendix B: Acute, chronic and unspecified hepatitis C reporting patterns by province and territory, 2011 to 2020

Acute, chronic and unspecified hepatitis C reporting patterns by province and territory, 2011 to 2020
PT 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
BC  Unspecified  Acute and Chronic/UnspecifiedFootnote 8
AB  Unspecified  Acute, Chronic and Unspecified 
SK  Unspecified  Acute, Chronic and Unspecified
MB  Unspecified  Acute, Chronic and Unspecified   Not reported
ON  Unspecified 
QC  Unspecified  Acute and Unspecified 
NB  Unspecified 
NS  Unspecified 
PE  Unspecified 
NL  Unspecified 
YT  Unspecified  Acute, Chronic and Unspecified  Acute and Chronic  Acute, Chronic and Unspecified  Acute and Chronic 
NT  Unspecified 
NU  Unspecified  Acute, Chronic and Unspecified 

PT=province or territory, BC=British Columbia, QC=Quebec, YT=Yukon Territories, AB=Alberta, MB=Manitoba, NU=Nunavut, NS=Nova Scotia, ON=Ontario, NB=New Brunswick, SK=Saskatchewan, NT=Northwest Territories, NL=Newfoundland and Labrador, PE=Prince Edward Island

Appendix C: List of supplementary tables 

Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the number of reported hepatitis C cases, a 2020 hepatitis B and C in Canada surveillance report was not prepared by the Public Health Agency of Canada. However, the supplementary tables described below are available upon request via sti-hep-its@phac-aspc.gc.ca.   

List of supplementary tables: 

Notes

Observed differences in the data published here and the data published in provincial and territorial surveillance products may be due to reporting delays, differences in the date data were extracted from the provincial and territorial surveillance databases or other reporting variations. Where such differences are noted, it is recommended that data and results from provincial and territorial products be used.

Footnotes

Footnote 1

Public Health Agency of Canada. Survey on the impact of COVID-19 on the delivery of STBBI prevention, testing and treatment, including harm reduction services, in Canada. Ottawa, ON: Public Health Agency of Canada; 2022. Pub.: 210294

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Footnote 2

In 2020, six provinces and territories (British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Quebec, Nunavut, and Yukon Territories) provided reported acute hepatitis C case numbers.

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Footnote 3

In 2020, five provinces and territories (British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Nunavut, and Yukon Territories) provided reported chronic hepatitis C case numbers.

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Footnote 4

In 2020, all provinces and territories, except for British Columbia, Manitoba, and Yukon Territories, provided reported unspecified hepatitis C case numbers.

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Footnote 5

Interpret rate with caution since it was calculated as the number of cases among a smaller population. In such instances, it is best to consider the number of cases reported for the jurisdiction.

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Footnote 6

People living with Hepatitis C (HCV) in Canada, 2019.

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Footnote 7

Canadian Network on Hepatitis C. Blueprint to inform hepatitis C elimination efforts in Canada. Montreal, QC: CanHepC; 2019; (accessed in February 2023). https://www.canhepc.ca/en/blueprint/publication

Return to footnote 7 referrer

Footnote 8

British Columbia sends hepatitis C chronic and unspecified data together, as one category, to the Canadian Notifiable Disease Surveillance System. The Canadian Notifiable Disease Surveillance System (https://diseases.canada.ca/notifiable/) treats these cases as hepatitis C chronic cases.

Return to footnote 8 referrer

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