Assessing the outcome of patients with liver cirrhosis during hospital stay: A comparison of lymphocyte/monocyte ratio with MELD and Child-Pugh scores

Platelet-to-Monocyte Ratio as a Novel Promising Agent for the Prognosis of Hepatitis B Virus-Associated Decompensated Cirrhosis

Aim

The present study aimed at investigating associations of the platelet-to-monocyte ratio (PMR), a novel hematological indicator of inflammatory responses with 30-day outcomes in patients with HBV-associated decompensated cirrhosis (HBV-DeCi).

Methods

We recruited 329 patients with HBV-DeCi for this retrospective study and extracted baseline clinical data and laboratory characteristics from medical records. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to determine major factors influencing 30-day mortality. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis was performed to compare the predictive values of prognostic markers.

Results

During the 30-day follow-up period, 21 (6.4%) patients died. The PMR was significantly different between nonsurvivors and survivors. Lower PMR was found to be associated with an increased risk of 30-day mortality, and PMR (odds ratio: 1.011; 95% CI: 1.003-1.019; P=0.005) was found to be an independent predictor of 30-day mortality in patients with HBV-DeCi with a significant predictive value (AUC = 0.826, 95% CI: 0.781-0.865). The combination of PMR and MELD score could improve prognostic accuracy in these patients (AUC = 0.911, 95% CI: 0.876-0.940).

Conclusions

Our results demonstrate that low PMR may be an independent predictor of 30-day mortality in patients with HBV-DeCi, and combined with the MELD score, it may be useful to complement other conventional measures to enable effective management of these patients.

Child-Pugh Score, MELD Score and Glasgow Blatchford Score to Predict the In-Hospital Outcome of Portal Hypertensive Patients Presenting with Upper Gastrointestinal Bleeding: An Experience from Tertiary Healthcare System

The two most familiar scores used for prognostication of liver cirrhosis are the Model for End-stage Liver Disease (MELD) and Child-Turcotte-Pugh (CTP), while the Glasgow-Blatchford (GB) score is used for sorting non-variceal upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage into high- or low-risk categories. This study evaluates the validity of the CTP, MELD, and GB scoring systems in prognosticating the in-hospital outcome of bleeding portal hypertensive patients. In this study, the ROC curve and Younden index determine the efficacy of three scoring systems. The results indicate that CTP was the most efficient score as the predictor of outcome (AUC = 0.9, cut-off value > 7); followed by MELD (AUC = 0.8, cut-off value > 18) and then the GB score (AUC = 0.64, cut-off value > 14) (p < 0.05). In pair-wise comparison, the difference between CTP and MELD was insignificant (p > 0.05). Patients with a CTP score of >7 had notably higher in-hospital mortality (19.8% vs. 0.9%, p < 0.0001). Similarly, mortality with a MELD score > 18 was significant (14.8% vs. 5.9% (p < 0.0001). The GB score was not a good indicator of the outcome. Platelets, albumin, CTP, and MELD scores were the independent contributors to mortality. Thus, as liver cirrhosis prognosticators, CTP and MELD scores can also both be used as predictive scores of the in-hospital outcomes of bleeding patients due to portal hypertension. Compared to the GB score, CTP and MELD scores are fairly efficient predictors in these patients.

Psoas muscle index predicts time to rehospitalization in liver cirrhosis: An observational study

Sarcopenia is frequent in liver cirrhosis (LC) where it is associated with morbidity and mortality. However, prognostic scores such as model for end-stage liver disease (MELD), MELD-sodium (MELD-Na), or Child-Turcotte-Pugh (CTP) do not contain sarcopenia as a variable. For this study, we utilized psoas muscle index (PMI) to objectively determine sarcopenia in hospitalized LC patients, and evaluated it as a predictor of time between discharge and readmission in LC. Abdominal computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging scans of 65 consecutive LC patients were retrospectively examined to determine PMI. MELD, MELD-Na, and CTP were calculated from clinical data. PMI was then combined with CTP to form an experimental score: CTP sarcopenia (CTPS). For PMI alone and for each score, correlation with time between discharge and readmission for liver-related complications was calculated. PMI was also tested for correlation with sex, body mass index (BMI), MELD, MELD-Na, and CTP. CTPS was most closely correlated with time to readmission (R = 0.730; P < .001), followed by CTP (R = 0.696; P < .001), MELD-Na (R = 0.405; P = .009), and PMI alone (R = 0.388; P = .01). Correlation with MELD (R = 0.354; P = .05) was lowest. Additionally, there were significant differences in PMI between male and female individuals (5.16 vs 4.54 cm2/m2; P = .04) and in BMI between sarcopenic and nonsarcopenic individuals (29.63 vs 25.88 kg/m2; P = .009). Sarcopenia is an independent short-term prognostic factor in LC. By combining data on sarcopenia with CTP, we created an experimental score that predicts time to readmission better than MELD, MELD-Na, or CTP.

Correlation between the Lymphocyte-To-Monocyte Ratio (LMR) and Child–Pugh and MELD/MELDNa Scores in Vietnamese Patients with Liver Cirrhosis

Objectives: This study aims to determine cirrhotic patients’ clinical and laboratory characteristics, thereby examining the correlation between lymphocyte-to-monocyte ratio and Child–Pugh and MELD/MELDNa scores. Methods: A cross-sectional study with an analysis of 153 patients admitted to the Department of Gastroenterology–Clinical Hematology at Can Tho Central General Hospital. Data were collected via patient interviews and medical records. Results: The included patients were more likely to be male (66.7%) and were ≥60 years old (51.6%). Excessive alcohol consumption and hepatitis B were the dominant causes of cirrhosis (35.3% and 34.0%). The clinical and laboratory characteristics were similar to previous studies in cirrhotic patients. The mean Child score was 9.3 ± 2.1, including 9.8% of patients with Child A, 44.4% for Child B, and 45.8% for Child C. The mean MELD and MELDNa scores were 16.9 ± 7.1 and 19.4 ± 8.1, respectively. The mean lymphocyte-to-monocyte ratio (LMR) is 2.0 ± 2.2 (from 0.09 to 25.3), being negatively correlated with the other scores (Pearson correlation coefficients were −0.238; −0.211 and −0.245, respectively, all p-values < 0.01). Patients with LMR below 3.31 were more likely to be classified as Child–Pugh B and C. Conclusion: The correlation between LMR with Child–Pugh, MELD, and MELDNa scores was weak and negative.

The Significant Morbidity and Mortality Indicators in Patients of Cirrhosis

Background: Cirrhosis progression varies greatly from patient to patient due to a variety of factors, including hepatic reserve, cirrhosis etiology, and the presence of hepatocellular cancer. As a result, determining a prognosis in a patient with cirrhosis remains a difficult task. For nearly three decades, the Child-Pugh score (CPS) has been the gold standard for determining the prognosis of cirrhosis. In the last two decades, many prognostic models and scores like a model for end-stage liver disease (MELD), chronic liver failure-sequential organ failure assessment (CLIF-SOFA) score, peripheral blood lymphocyte to monocyte ratio (LMR) have been presented to predict prognosis in patients with cirrhosis and to choose the best therapy option. The aim of our study is to determine which score is more effective in predicting three-month mortality and whether these scores are equally effective in predicting short-term outcomes.

Materials & methods: In this hospital-based longitudinal study, we analyzed 140 patients with cirrhosis of liver visiting All India Institute of Medical Sciences Bhopal between July 2019 and July 2020. All the 140 patients were followed up for three months to establish short-term outcomes. The blood investigations were done at the time of presentation from all the patients and after three months in the survivors. Various scores were calculated.

Results: The majority of patients (47%) were in Child-Pugh class C. Mean MELD score was 13.54, LMR score was 1.96 and CLIF-SOFA score was 5. The total bilirubin, serum creatinine, international normalized ratio (INR), total leukocyte count, absolute monocyte count, CPS, MELD, CLIF-SOFA were significantly higher in a non-surviving group as compared to the surviving group, whereas the albumin and LMR significantly decreased in the non-surviving group. On performing multivariate regression, LMR and CLIF-SOFA were significant independent risk factors of mortality after adjusting for confounding factors. All the parameters had significant discriminatory power to predict mortality. Discriminatory power of CLIF-SOFA (AUC 0.808; 95% CI: 0.733 to 0.870) was excellent and discriminatory power of CPS (AUC 0.792; 95% CI: 0.716 to 0.856), MELD score (AUC 0.765; 95% CI: 0.685 to 0.832) and LMR (AUC 0.75; 95% CI: 0.669 to 0.819) was acceptable. Among all the parameters, CLIF-SOFA was the best predictor of mortality at a cut-off point of >5 with 80.80% chances of correctly predicting mortality.

Conclusion: The significant morbidity and mortality indicators are high total bilirubin, high creatinine, high INR, high TLC, low platelet count, and low albumin. Among the various scores, CLIF-SOFA is a better predictor of mortality and morbidity. Low LMR and high CLIF-SOFA are significant independent risk factors of mortality at three months.

Lymphocyte-to-monocyte ratio predicts mortality in cirrhotic patients with septic shock

INTRODUCTION

Patients with liver cirrhosis and septic shock have a significantly higher risk of mortality and morbidity compared with non-cirrhotic patients. The peripheral blood lymphocyte-to-monocyte ratio (LMR) can determine the prognosis of cirrhotic patients. Our study aimed to investigate the usefulness of LMR as a predictive marker of mortality risk in cirrhotic patients with septic shock.

METHODS

This single-center, retrospective case-control study included adult patients who visited the emergency department between January 1, 2018 and June 30, 2020 and diagnosed with liver cirrhosis and septic shock. They were divided into survivor and non-survivor groups according to their survival status at the 60-day follow-up. We used a Cox proportional hazards regression model to identify independent factors associated with mortality risk and tested the mortality discriminative ability of those factors using the area under a receiver operating characteristic curve.

RESULTS

A total of 93 patients were eligible for this study. Compared with the patients in the survivor group, those in the non-survivor group had significantly higher Child-Pugh (11 ± 2 vs. 9 ± 2, p < 0.001) and MELD scores (29 ± 6 vs. 22 ± 8, p < 0.001), higher serum international normalized ratio (1.7 vs.1.4, p = 0.03), bilirubin (6.0 vs. 3.3 mg/dL, p = 0.02), lactate (5.4 vs. 2.7 mmol/L, p < 0.01), creatinine (2.2 vs. 1.6 mg/dL, p = 0.04), higher neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (13.0 vs. 10.3, p = 0.02), and lower LMR (1.1 vs. 2.3, p < 0.01). The LMR (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR] = 1.54, p = 0.01) and lactate (aHR = 1.03, p < 0.01) were identified as independent predictive factors for mortality in the multivariate regression model. Furthermore, LMR (area under curve [AUC]: 0.87) revealed a superior discrimination ability in mortality prediction compared with the Child-Pugh (AUC: 0.72) and MELD (AUC: 0.76) scores.

CONCLUSIONS

The LMR can be used to predict mortality risk in cirrhotic patients with septic shock.

Lymphocyte-To-Monocyte Ratio as the Best Simple Predictor of Bacterial Infection in Patients with Liver Cirrhosis

Background and aim: The aim of this study was to assess the diagnostic performance of new morphology-related indices and Child–Turcotte–Pugh (CTP) and Model for End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD) scores during hospitalization in predicting the onset of bacterial infection in patients with liver cirrhosis. Material and methods: A total of 171 patients (56.9% males; median age 59 years; total number of hospitalizations 209) with liver cirrhosis were included in this observational study. The diagnosis of cirrhosis was made on the basis of clinical, biochemical, ultrasonic, histological, and endoscopic findings. The neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), lymphocyte-to-monocyte ratio (LMR), modified aspartate aminotransferase-to-platelet ratio index (APRI), aspartate aminotransferase-to-alanine aminotransferase ratio (AAR), Fibrosis-4 index (FIB-4), platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), neutrophil-to-monocyte ratio (NMR), and CTP and MELD scores were calculated for the cases of patients with cirrhosis. Results: Bacterial infection was diagnosed in 60 of the 209 (28.7%) hospitalizations of patients with cirrhosis. The most common infections were urinary tract infection (UTI), followed by pneumonia and sepsis. The more severe the liver failure, the greater the bacterial infection prevalence and mortality. Patients with decompensated liver cirrhosis were infected more often than subjects with compensated cirrhosis (50.0% vs. 12.9%, p = 0.003). The calculated MELD score, CTP, NLR, LMR, AAR, monocyte count, and C-reactive protein (CRP) concentration were also related to the bacterial infection prevalence, and mortality areas under the curve (AUC) were 0.629, 0.687, 0.606, 0.715, 0.610, 0.648, and 0.685, respectively. The combined model with two variables (LMR and CTP) had the best AUC of 0.757. The most common bacteria isolated from patients with UTI were Escherichia coli, Enterococcus faecalis, and Klebsiella pneumonia. Gram-negative bacteria were also responsible for spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (SBP), and together with gram-positive streptococci and staphylococci, these microorganisms were isolated from blood cultures of patients with sepsis. Significant differences were found between CTP classification, MELD score, NLR, LMR, AAR, CRP, and PLR in patients with cirrhosis with, or without, bacterial infection. Conclusions: Bacterial infection prevalence is relatively high in patients with liver cirrhosis. Although all analyzed scores, including the LMR, NLR, aspartate aminotransferase (AST)/alanine aminotransferase (ALT), CRP, CTP, and MELD, allowed the prediction of bacterial occurrence, the LMR had the highest clinical utility, according to the area under the curve (AUC) and odds ratio (OR).