The Impact of Different Infectious Complications on Mortality of Hospitalized Patients with Liver Cirrhosis

Abstract Introduction and objectives Bacterial infections are common complications in patients with cirrhosis and are associated with poor prognosis. There are no studies that analyze the impact of different infectious complications in the mortality of these patients, so we aimed to perform this evaluation. Materials and methods We performed a case-control study in adult patients with cirrhosis with a follow-up period of one year. We recorded demographic data, prognostic scales, infectious complications and mortality at 30, 90 and 365 days. For the survival analysis, Kaplan–Meyer survival curve was performed and hazard ratios were calculated with 95% confidence intervals by Cox-regression in univariate and multivariate models. For the comparison between groups the Chi squared test, Fisher's exact test and Mann–Whitney U test were performed. Results We included 500 patients. Median age was 58 years, predominant sex was woman (52%) and the most common infections were urinary tract infections (35%), pneumonia (28.2%) and spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (SBP) (18%). From the patients, 40.4% were CTP score C and median MELD score was 15. In the univariate analysis, infections in general, SBP, pneumonia and central nervous system (CNS) infections had an increased mortality at the three follow up periods, however in the multivariate analysis with the prognostic scales, only pneumonia (HR 2.03, CI 95%[1.06–3.86]) and CNS infections (HR 4.84, CI 95%[1.38–16.93]) remained with increased mortality. Conclusions Some infectious complications, as pneumonia and CNS infections, increase mortality in hospitalized patients with cirrhosis, regardless of the severity of liver disease.