Evolving Characteristics of Decedents With Hepatitis A Listed as a Cause of Death, United States, 2011–2021

Hepatitis A is a vaccine‐preventable disease that typically causes mild illness. Hepatitis A outbreaks associated with person‐to‐person transmission have been widespread in the United States since 2016. We used public‐use US Multiple Cause of Death data to compare characteristics and listed comorbidities among decedents with hepatitis A‐listed deaths during non‐outbreak (2011–2015) and outbreak (2017–2021) periods and assessed the median age at death among decedents with and without hepatitis A‐listed deaths during the outbreak period. From the non‐outbreak period to the outbreak period, hepatitis A‐listed deaths more than doubled (from 369 to 801), while the hepatitis A‐listed age‐adjusted mortality rate increased 150% (p p