Elevated Incidence and Risk of Emergent Cirrhosis Complications in Alcoholic Cirrhosis Compared with Other Etiologies

Abstract

Gastrointestinal bleeding (GIB) is a common cause of urgent hospitalization in patients with cirrhosis. However, limited studies have examined the prevalence and risk of these complications based on etiology. This study aims to compare the occurrence and risk of cirrhosis complications on inpatient mortality between alcoholic cirrhosis (ALC) and other etiology-induced cirrhosis (NALC). This retrospective analysis included 7,159,694 patients. ALC was diagnosed based on ICD-10, while NALC included primary and secondary biliary cirrhosis, nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), and unspecified cirrhosis of the liver. GIB included bleeding from esophageal and gastric varices. Bivariate analyses using appropriate statistical tests were performed to compare the two groups. ALC patients had a significantly higher incidence of GIB compared with NALC patients (10.8% vs. 6.4%, p p p p p p p < 0.01). ALC patients have a significantly higher risk of developing GIB, ascites, and HE compared with NALC patients, leading to increased mortality and greater medical burden on hospitals.

Keywords

• alcoholic cirrhosis
• gastrointestinal bleeding
• ascites
• hepatic encephalopathy
• mortality