We completely agree with the comments by Marca et al. on our article1, with respect to the importance that economic factors have on the etiologic variability of cirrhosis of the liver. Different publications have shown that greater purchasing power has influenced the modification of the epidemiologic panorama of the disease, showing that the number of cases due to chronic alcohol use or obesity has increased in the higher-income countries, whereas the increase in cases is due to the hepatitis B and C viruses in lower-income countries2–5.
They also believe that the economic factors in our study were not duly analyzed and that we should have included the incomes of the population group. In that regard, we would like to emphasize the following: in Mexico, as in the countries of Central America and South America, the mean wage of the population is low, which can be applied to all the etiologic factors of cirrhosis6. However, we entirely agree with the fact that knowing the income of patients in each of the different etiologies is important, and it will be taken into account in the follow-up of our present study, which we consider a preliminary analysis, and should be corroborated with a higher number of cases, as well.
Ethical considerationsThe present document did not require informed consent or authorization by the Bioethics Committee of the Universidad Veracruzana, because according to the Declaration of Helsinki and Resolution 008430 of October 4, 1993, the study under discussion was considered no risk research.
Financial disclosureNo specific grants were received from public sector agencies, the business sector, or non-profit organizations in relation to this study.
Conflict of interestThe authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.
Please cite this article as: Roesch-Dietlen F, González-Santes M. A propósito de la carta editorial sobre el estudio «Influencia de los factores socioeconómicos y culturales en la etiología de la cirrosis hepática». Rev Gastroenterol Méx. 2022;87:128–129.
