Bacterial infection triggers and complicates acute-on-chronic liver failure in patients with hepatitis B virus-decompensated cirrhosis: A retrospective cohort study

BACKGROUND Reports on bacterial infection(BI) in decompensated cirrhosis(DC) is mainly from alcoholic cirrhosis. The role of BI as a trigger or complication of acute-on-chronic liver failure(ACLF) in patients with hepatitis B virus decompensated cirrhosis(HBV-DC) remains to be investigated.AIM To investigate the impact of BI on the outcomes of the patients with HBV-DC admitted into the hospital with or without ACLF.METHODS This retrospective study included patients with HBV-DC admitted to two tertiary centers in China. In-hospital overall survival, 90-d transplant-free survival, 5-year post-discharge survival, and cumulative incidence of ACLF were evaluated. Risk factors for death were analyzed considering liver transplantation as a competing event.RESULTS A total of 1281 hospitalized HBV-DC patients were included; 284 had ACLF at admission. The overall prevalence of BI was 28.1%. The patients with BI had a significantly lower in-hospital survival and transplant-free 90-d survival than those without, in both the patients admitted with and without ACLF. The presence of BI significantly increased the risk of developing ACLF [subdistribution hazard ratio(s HR) = 2.52, 95%CI: 1.75-3.61, P < 0.001] in the patients without ACLF. In the patients discharged alive, those who had an episode of BI had a significantly lower 5-year transplant-free survival. BI was an independent risk factor for death in the patients admitted without ACLF(s HR = 3.28, 95%CI:1.93-5.57), while in ACLF admissions, the presence of pneumonia, but not other type of BI, independently increased the risk of death(s HR = 1.87, 95%CI: 1.24-2.82).CONCLUSION BI triggers ACLF in patients with HBV-DC and significantly impairs short-term survival. HBV-DC patients should be monitored carefully for the development of BI, especially pneumonia, to avoid an adverse outcome.