Covert hepatic encephalopathy is independently associated with poor survival and increased risk of hospitalization.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

Despite the high prevalence of covert hepatic encephalopathy (CHE) in cirrhotics without previous overt HE (OHE), its independent impact on predicting clinically relevant outcomes is unclear. The aim of this study was to define the impact of CHE on time to OHE, hospitalization, and death/transplant in prospectively followed up patients without previous OHE.

Methods

Outpatient cirrhotics without OHE were enrolled and were administered a standard paper-pencil cognitive battery for CHE diagnosis. They were systematically followed up and time to first OHE development, hospitalization (liver-related/unrelated), and transplant/death were compared between CHE and no-CHE patients at baseline using Cox regression.

Results

A total of 170 cirrhotic patients (55 years,

SUBMITTER: Patidar KR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4321782 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature