Causes and Outcomes of Acute Liver Failure in China
Open Access
- 22 November 2013
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Public Library of Science (PLoS) in PLOS ONE
- Vol. 8 (11), e80991
- https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0080991
Abstract
No extensive investigation has been performed and thus no representative data are available regarding acute liver failure (ALF) in China. This study aims to investigate the causes and outcomes of ALF in China and establish a prognostic model. Patients diagnosed as ALF in seven hospitals in different areas of China from January 2007 to December 2012 were retrospectively selected. Of the 177 patients included in this study, 112 (63.28%) eventually died. The common causes of ALF were drug toxicity (43.50%), indeterminate etiology (29.38%) and acute viral hepatitis (11.30%). Additionally, traditional Chinese herbs predominated in the causes of drug-induced ALF (30/77). No patients in this study received liver transplantation. In the established model for predicting death in ALF, four variables were finally selected out, including age (P=0.01), the entry hepatic encephalopathy grade (P=0.04), international normalized ratio (PP=0.02). Using a threshold value of 0.5683, this model had a sensitivity of 95.24% and a specificity of 91.30%. Traditional Chinese medicine was a major cause of ALF in China. The spontaneous mortality of ALF was high, whereas the rate of liver transplantation was significantly low. The established prognostic model of ALF had superior sensitivity and specificity.Keywords
This publication has 19 references indexed in Scilit:
- Prediction of Poor Outcome in Patients with Acute Liver Failure—Systematic Review of Prediction ModelsPLOS ONE, 2012
- Development of an Accurate Index for Predicting Outcomes of Patients With Acute Liver FailureGastroenterology, 2012
- Bridging Therapies and Liver Transplantation in Acute Liver Failure; 10 Years of MARS Experience from FinlandScandinavian Journal of Surgery, 2011
- Acute liver failure after administration of paracetamol at the maximum recommended daily dose in adultsBMJ, 2010
- Acute liver failureThe Lancet, 2010
- Cytokeratin 18-based modification of the MELD score improves prediction of spontaneous survival after acute liver injuryJournal of Hepatology, 2010
- Characteristics of acute and sub-acute liver failure in China: nomination, classification and intervalJournal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, 2007
- Acute liver failure in Sweden: etiology and outcomeJournal of Internal Medicine, 2007
- Predictive value of arterial ammonia for complications and outcome in acute liver failureGut, 2006
- Results of a Prospective Study of Acute Liver Failure at 17 Tertiary Care Centers in the United StatesAnnals of Internal Medicine, 2002