Gutuo Jiejiu decoction improves survival of patients with severe alcoholic hepatitis: A retrospective cohort study

AIM To verify the value of Gutuo Jiejiu decoction in improving the survival of patients with severe alcoholic hepatitis(SAH).METHODS We performed a retrospective cohort study in consecutive patients diagnosed with SAH at the Teaching Hospital of Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Shuguang Hospital, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine. The traditional Chinese medicine formula Gutuo Jiejiu decoction was employed as an exposure factor. Patients from the Teaching Hospital of Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine who had been treated with Gutuo Jiejiu decoction + prednisone were assigned to an observation group, and patients from Shuguang Hospital, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine who had been treated with prednisone alone were selected as a control group. A retrospective analysis was performed by comparing age, alcohol intake, and clinical parameters of liver injury beforeand after treatment. Additionally, the 3-and 12-mo survival rates and the occurrence of complications were analyzed.RESULTS One hundred and twenty-eight eligible patients were selected from 175 cases with SAH, of which 68 were assigned to the observation group and the other 60 to the control group. No significant difference was found in the patients' baseline characteristics(P > 0.05). However, significant improvements of 90-d survival rate [56/68(82.4%) vs 27/60(45.0%), P = 0.0000] and 365-d survival rate [48/68(70.6%) vs 13/60(21.7%), P = 00000] were observed in the observation group after treatment. After the first 3 mo of treatment, more improvements in the clinical parameters and scoring systems related to liver injury occurred in the observation group than in the control group(P < 0.05). After treatment for 12 mo, the differences in the clinical parameters and scoring systems related to liver injury between the two groups were more significant(P < 0.05). No significant differences in complications and adverse effects were found between the two groups.CONCLUSION Gutuo Jiejiu decoction could improve the survival rates and clinical parameters of liver injury in patients with SAH, and may represent a new option for treating SAH.

Logistic Regression Analysis of Influencing Factors on Serum ALT and HCV RNA Changes in Patients with Chronic Hepatitis C

Objective This study was undertaken to investigate the influencing factors on serum ALT level and hepatitis C virus(HCV)RNA titer in chronic hepatitis C(CHC)patients.Methods All patients enrolled into this study were anti-HCV positive.Retrospective tracing method was applied to detect serum ALT level and HCV RNA titer and to collect general information of the patients such as genders,age groups,interferon medication history,infection pathways,height and weight.Then the multi-factor analysis was adopted with the application of binominal logistic regression mode.Results The abnormal rate of ALT level was positively correlated to HCV RNA and gender while negatively correlated to interferon medication history and age group,with Wald value of the 4 factors as 39.604,11.823,18.991 and 7.389,respectively.The positive rate of HCV RNA was negatively correlated to interferon medication history and gender while positively correlated to ALT level,with corresponding Wald value of the 3 factors as81.394,7.618 and 27.562,respectively.Conclusions The normal ALT level in HCV infected patients was associated with viral load,age,gender and interferon medication history,while the normal rate of HCV RNA titer was closely associated with gender,interferon medication history and ALT level.