Rifaximin ameliorates hepatic encephalopathy and endotoxemia without affecting the gut microbiome diversity

Table 1 Characteristic features of patients at baseline (n = 20)

	Baseline	Treatment	P value
Age	66.8 (46-81)
Sex (male/female)	12/8
Etiology
Alcohol	4
HBV	4
HCV	8
NASH	2
Alcohol + HBV	1
Alcohol + HCV	1
Child class (A/B/C)	0/18/2
MELD score	8.3 (2.6-15.0)	7.5 (1.2-15.0)	0.474
AST (U/L)	50 ± 22	53 ± 29	0.791
ALT (U/L)	32 ± 14	31 ± 14	0.755
Albumin (g/dL)	3.3 ± 0.6	3.3 ± 0.5	0.980
Total bilirubin (mg/dL)	1.8 ± 0.9	1.6 ± 0.8	0.545
Prothrombin time (INR)	1.28 ± 0.11	1.26 ± 0.11	0.630
CRP (mg/dL)	0.3 ± 0.6	0.2 ± 0.2	0.533
WBC (103/μL)	3.4 ± 1.1	3.5 ± 1.0	0.847
Platelet (104/μL)	8.1 ± 4.1	7.7 ± 3.5	0.710
BTR	3.7 ± 1.5	4.2 ± 3.7	0.601

Data of age and MELD score are given in median and total range. The other data are given in mean ± SD. BTR: Branched chain amino acid and tyrosine ratio; CRP: C-reactive protein; HBV: Hepatitis B virus; HCV: Hepatitis C virus; NASH: Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis.