Since 2013, the overall hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC)-specific mortality has decreased significantly, along with reduced incidence and continuously improved survival, in the US population. Possible contributors to the downward trends of the disease burden of HCC in the US include changing etiologies, advances in screening and diagnosis, and improved treatment modality and allocation.

• Researchers utilized data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results databases, to analyze HCC incidence, incidence-based mortality (IBM), and 1-year survival (1-YS) rates from 1992 through 2017 in the US.

• During 1992-2011, an increase in the incidence rates of HCC occurred, and incidence rates sharply declined thereafter by -2.3% annually.

• In the US population, IBM peaked in 2013 (age-standardized mortality rate: 6.98 per 100,000 person-years).

• Significant reduction in IBM began in 2013 by -3.2%/year (/y) after a continuous increase of 3.5% annually during 1993-2013.

• Improvement in the 1-YS of HCC, from 21.4% to 56.6%, was observed during the study period.

• However, HCC incidence and mortality risk were highest in patients aged 60-69 and born between 1952-1957.