Prognostic significance of hepatic encephalopathy in patients with cirrhosis treated with current standards of care

Table 4 Hazard ratio for the different variables investigated by univariate analysis and multivariate analysis as possible prognostic factors in 188 cirrhotic patients presenting with hepatic encephalopathy and commenced on rifaximin

Variable	Univariate hazard ratio using cox regression (95%CI)1	Multivariate hazard ratio (95%CI)1
Age	1.014 (0.99, 1.03)
Sex (male vs female)	1.087 (0.75, 1.58)
Aetiology of cirrhosis2
HBV infection	0.76 (0.28, 2.05)
HCV infection	0.62 (0.42, 0.91)a
Alcohol	0.92 (0.65, 1.30)
Precipitating factors2
Gastrointestinal bleed	0.75 (0.46, 1.22)
Infection	1.49 (1.03, 2.15)a
Diuretic therapy	1.47 (0.94, 2.32)
Constipation	1.19 (0.73, 1.95)
Ascites at the time of HE2	1.11 (0.77, 1.59)
Maximal grade of HE (grade 3 and 4 vs grade 1 and 2)	0.80 (0.53, 1.21)
Serum values3
Bilirubin	1.001 (1, 1.002)a
ALT	1 (0.99, 1.003)
GGT	1 (1, 1)
Albumin	0.97 (0.95, 1.002)
Urea	1.05 (1.02, 1.09)a
Creatinine	1.001 (1, 1.002)a
Sodium	0.99 (0 .97, 1.03)
Potassium	1.16 (0.96, 1.40)
INR	1.5 (1.21, 1.85)a	1.27 (1.04, 1.54)a
Hb	0.98 (0.97, 1.01)
WCC	1.06 (1.02, 1.10)a
Plt	1.00 (0.99, 1.01)
Child Pugh Score (C vs A/B)	1.57 ( 1.02, 2.41)a
MELD	1.03 (1.01, 1.06)a
MELD (≥ 15 vs ≤ 15)	2.41 ( 1.20. 4.85)a	2.17 (1.07, 4.43)a

¹In brackets: 95% confidence interval.

²Presence vs absence.

³Hazard ratio per unit increase.

^aP ≤ 0.05. HE: Hepatic encephalopathy; HCV: Hepatitis C; HBV: Hepatitis B; ALT: Alanine transaminase; GGT: Gamma glutamyl transferase; INR: international normalised ratio; Hb: Haemoglobin; WCC: White cell count; Plt: Platelet count; MELD: Model for end-stage liver disease.