Renal and brain failure predict mortality of patients with acute-on-chronic liver failure admitted to the intensive care unit

Introduction and Objectives: Acute on Chronic Liver Failure (ACLF) is characterized by organ failure and high 28-day mortality. Identifying clinical predictors associated with early mortality could have implications for the treatment of patients with ACLF. Patients and methods: Patients diagnosed with chronic liver failure that developed ACLF based on the EASLCLIF Consortium definition admitted to the Intensive care unit of a tertiary hospital between 2012-2018 were included. Bivariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses were performed to identify factors associated with mortality. Results: 148 patients (55% female) were diagnosed with ACLF of which 55% (n = 82) had ACLF grade 3, 28% (n = 41) grade 2 and 17% (n = 25) grade 1. The median age was 54 years (41-63). Hepatitis C virus (HCV) was the most frequent etiology in 29.8% (n = 44) of the patients with bacterial infection being the most predominant precipitant factor in 58.1% (n = 86). Ninety-day global cumulative survival was only 18%. When divided by grade, mortality reached to 10% in ACLF 3. Moreover, in the multivariate Cox regression analysis, renal failure (HR 3.26, 95% CI (2.13-4.99), brain failure (HR 1.37, 95% CI 1.09-2.04) and male sex (HR 1.62, 95% CI 1.10-2.40) were independent predictors of 28-and 90-day mortality. Conclusions: ACLF is a frequent syndrome among chronic liver disease patients. Brain and renal failure are significantly associated with higher mortality and are independent predictors of 28 and 90-day mortality. (c) 2020 Fundaci & oacute;n Cli & acute;nica M & eacute;dica Sur, A.C. Published by Elsevier Espana, S.L.U. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Automated summary

ACLF patients with renal and brain failure have significantly higher mortality rates, indicating that these factors are independent predictors of 28-and 90-day mortality.