Original Article


Albumin-to-bilirubin score for assessing the in-hospital death in cirrhosis

Lichun Shao, Bing Han, Shu An, Jiaxin Ma, Xiaozhong Guo, Fernando Gomes Romeiro, Andrea Mancuso, Xingshun Qi

Abstract

Background: To evaluate the ability of albumin-to-bilirubin (ALBI) score for assessing the in-hospital death in cirrhotic patients.
Methods: Overall, 1,067 cirrhotic patients admitted between January 2009 and December 2014 were retrospectively enrolled. We calculated the Child-Pugh, model for end-stage liver disease (MELD), and ALBI scores. We performed receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) analyses to assess the in-hospital death. We calculated the area under the ROC curve (AUC).
Results: In the overall analysis, all of the three scores can significantly assess the in-hospital death (Child-Pugh score AUC =0.750, 95% CI: 0.713–0.784, P<0.0001; MELD score AUC =0.728, 95% CI: 0.689–0.765, P<0.0001; ALBI score AUC =0.698, 95% CI: 0.667–0.727, P<0.0001). In the subgroup analysis of hepatitis B virus, Child-Pugh and ALBI scores were suitable to assess in-hospital death (Child-Pugh score AUC =0.752, 95% CI: 0.679–0.816, P<0.0001; ALBI score AUC =0.803, 95% CI: 0.751–0.849, P=0.0002) and both were superior to the MELD score (AUC=0.564, 95% CI: 0.483–0.643, P=0.5357). In the subgroup analysis of alcohol abuse, Child-Pugh and MELD scores properly assessed in-hospital death (Child-Pugh score AUC =0.791, 95% CI: 0.727–0.846, P<0.0001; MELD score AUC =0.720, 95% CI: 0.647–0.786, P=0.0023), rather than ALBI score (AUC =0.646, 95% CI: 0.588–0.702, P=0.1360).
Conclusions: ALBI score might be an alternative index for assessing the in-hospital death in patients with liver cirrhosis.

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