Characteristics of alcoholic liver disease and predictive factors for mortality of patients with alcoholic cirrhosis

BACKGROUND:Alcoholic liver disease is one of the major chronic liver diseases worldwide.The aim of the study was to describe the clinical characteristics of alcoholic liver disease and to compare the predictive values of biochemical parameters,complications,Child-Turcotte-Pugh score,model for end-stage liver disease(MELD)score and discriminant function score for the mortality of in-hospital or 3-month after discharge of patients with alcoholic cirrhosis(AC).METHODS:A retrospective record review and statistical analysis were performed on 205 consecutive patients with the discharge diagnosis of alcoholic liver disease.Three models were used to predict the mortality of patients with AC.The number of variceal hemorrhage,infection,hepatic encephalopathy and hepatocellular carcinoma was analyzed as"numbers of complications".Model 1 consisted of creatinine,white blood cell count,international normalized ratio and"numbers of complications".Model 2 consisted of MELD score.Model 3included"numbers of complications"and MELD score.RESULTS:The risk of developing AC was significant for patients with alcohol consumption of higher than 80 g/d(OR=2.807,P【0.050)and drinking duration of longer than 10 years(OR=3.429,P【0.028).The area under curve for predicting inhospital mortality of models 1,2 and 3 was 0.950,0.886 and 0.911(all P【0.001),respectively.The area under curve for predicting the 3-month mortality of models 1,2 and 3 was 0.867,0.878 and0.893(all P【0.001),respectively.CONCLUSIONS:There is a dose-dependent relationship between alcohol consumption and the risk of developing AC.MELD score has a better predictive value than Child-TurcottePugh or discriminant function score for patients with AC,and model 1 or 3 is better than model 2.

Efficacy of Real-world Entecavir Therapy in Treatment-naive Chronic Hepatitis B Patients

Background：Entecavir （ETV） has been shown to be effective in randomized controlled trials in highly selected patients with hepatitis B virus （HBV） infection.This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of ETV in chronic hepatitis B （CHB） patients in the real-world setting.Methods：A total of 233 treatment-na（i）ve,CHB patients who received at least 12 months of ETV treatment were included in this retrospective study.Rates of virological response （VR）,hepatitis B s antigen （HBsAg） loss,hepatitis B e antigen （HBeAg） clearance/seroconversion,virological breakthrough,cirrhosis,and hepatocellular carcinoma were evaluated.Results：Of 233 patients,175 patients were male,with mean age of 43 years old,and 135 patients were HBeAg positive.The mean baseline levels of serum alanine aminotransferase and HBV DNA in all patients were 230 U/L and 6.6 log 10 IU/ml,respectively.The mean follow-up period was 28 months.The cumulative rates of achieving VR increased from 3.4% at 3 months to 94.4% at 60 months.Primary nonresponse occurred in 3 （1.3%） patients.Partial VR （PVR） occurred in 61 （26.2%） patients at 12 months.The baseline serum HBV DNA level （hazard ratio [HR],2.054;P 〈 0.001） was an independent risk factor for PVR.HBsAg loss did not occur.The cumulative rates of HBeAg clearance increased from 2.2% at 3 months to 28.2% at 60 months.PVR was the significant determinant of HBeAg clearance （HR,0.341;P =0.026）.Age （HR,1.072;P =0.013） and PVR （HR,5.131;P =0.017） were the significant determinants of cirrhosis.Conclusions：ETV treatment was effective for HBV DNA suppression in this study,but HBsAg loss and HBeAg clearance/seroconversion rates were lower compared with previous clinical trials.PVR was associated with HBeAg clearance and cirrhosis.

Alcohol consumption analysis among patients with liver disease in China

Background: Alcohol consumption has been observed to be a contributing factor in liver damage. However, very few studies have tried to decipher the correlation between patients with liver disease and alcohol consumption. Therefore, this study was planned to determine the prevalence of alcohol consumption among patients with liver disease, and to evaluate the risk factors, liver diseases, and chronic medical conditions associated with alcohol drinking. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among patients with liver disease in 30 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities across China. All participants answered the questionnaire, which led to the calculation of Alcohol Use Disorders Inventory Test (AUDIT) score for each patient. Based on this score, low-risk drinkers, hazardous drinkers, and harmful drinkers were defined as having AUDIT score of <8, between 8 and 15, and ≥16, respectively. Results: A total of 1489 participants completed the questionnaire. Based on this information, 900 (60.44%) participants were classified as alcohol drinkers. Among these, 8.66% were ex-drinkers, 22.10% were low-risk drinkers, 17.13% were hazardous drinkers, and 12.56% were harmful drinkers. Further investigation of the association between alcohol consumption and other baseline characteristics of patients with liver disease revealed that usually men <40 years old, participants having higher family annual income, having college degree or higher education, living alone, having higher body mass index (BMI), current smokers, and ex-smokers had significant association with higher risk of alcohol consumption. In addition, among the 18.07% of the participants with cirrhosis, it was observed that risk of cirrhosis increased with higher alcohol consumption. Furthermore, harmful drinkers showed greater odds of hypertension and heart diseases, while hazardous drinkers and harmful drinkers, both had greater odds of hyperlipidemia. Conclusions: Overall our analyses indicated that among the patients with liver disease in China, there was high rate of alcohol consumption and dependence. Alcohol consumption usually associated with men <40 years old, higher family income, education level, living alone, high BMI, and smoking. Increased alcohol consumption not only increased the risk of cirrhosis, but also enhanced the risk of hypertension, heart diseases, and hyperlipidemia.