Frailty is a known risk factor for major life-threatening liver transplant complications, deaths, and waitlist attrition. Whether frailty indicates risk for adverse outcomes in cirrhosis short of lethality is not well defined. We hypothesized that clinical measurements of frailty using gait speed and grip strength would indicate the risk of subsequent hospitalization for the complications of cirrhosis.

We assessed frailty as gait speed and grip strength in a 1-year prospective study of 373 cirrhotic patients evaluated for or awaiting liver transplantation. We determined its association with the outcome of subsequent hospital days/100 days at risk for 7 major complications of cirrhosis. We tested potential covariate influences of Model for Endstage Liver Disease (MELD) and Child-Turcotte-Pugh (CTP) scores, age, sex, height, depression, narcotic use, vitamin D deficiency, and hepatocellular carcinoma using multivariable modeling.

Patients experienced 2.14 hospital days/100 days at risk, or 7.81 days/year. Frailty measured by gait speed was a strong risk factor for hospitalization for all cirrhosis complications. Each 0.1 m/s gait speed decrease was associated with 22% greater hospital days (P<0.001). Grip strength showed a similar but nonsignificant association. Gait speed remained independently significant when adjusted for MELD, CTP, and other covariates. At hospital costs of $4,000/day, patients with normal 1 m/s gait speed spent 6.2 days and $24,800/year; patients with 0.5 m/s speed spent 21.2 days and $84,800/year; and patients with 0.25 m/s speed spent 40.2 days and $160,800/year.

Frailty as measured by gait speed is an independent and potentially modifiable risk factor for cirrhosis complications requiring hospitalization. The potential clinical value of frailty measurements to help define such risk merits broader evaluation.

Deploying a longitudinal perspective, we observe how cirrhosis caused mortality rates in Portugal are converging with the levels reported in the European Union (15 countries). However, we still lack analysis of the burden of alcoholic cirrhosis in terms of hospital admissions and associated mortality. As Portugal may be considered a paradigmatic case in Europe, our aim was to characterize the evolution of hospital admissions for alcoholic cirrhosis between 1993 and 2008 and draw conclusions for other countries.

Retrospective analysis of the hepatic cirrhosis admissions in 97 Portuguese state hospitals was carried out based on the National Registry.

We report a convergence in terms of mortality rates resulting from cirrhosis between Portugal and European Union (a differential of 6.7 deaths per 100 000 habitants in 1994 to 0.4 in 2008). We accounted for 81 543 hospital admissions for cirrhosis: 84% for alcoholic cirrhosis and 16% for non-alcoholic cirrhosis. Hospital admissions have increased 29% in men and with no increase in women. In the male, alcoholic cirrhosis patient group aged between 40 and 54, the rise in hospital admissions was more pronounced with an increase of around 45%. These patients underwent longer lengths of stay and reported higher mortality rates and passing away 20 years earlier than the average national expectancy of life.

These data draw attention to the burden of alcohol consumption not only in Portugal but also in other countries and its impacts on hospital systems and on policy making.

To examine hospitalization rates for variceal hemorrhage and relation to cause of cirrhosis during an era of increased cirrhosis prevalence.

We performed a retrospective review of patients with cirrhosis and gastroesophageal variceal hemorrhage who were admitted to a tertiary care referral center from 1998 to 2009. Subjects were classified according to the etiology of their liver disease: alcoholic cirrhosis and non-alcoholic cirrhosis. Rates of hospitalization for variceal bleeding were determined. Data were also collected on total hospital admissions per year and cirrhosis-related admissions per year over the same time period. These data were then compared and analyzed for trends in admission rates.

Hospitalizations for cirrhosis significantly increased from 611 per 100000 admissions in 1998-2001 to 1232 per 100000 admissions in 2006-9 (P value for trend < 0.0001). This increase was seen in admissions for both alcoholic and non-alcoholic cirrhosis (P values for trend < 0.001 and < 0.0001 respectively). During the same time period, there were 243 admissions for gastroesophageal variceal bleeding (68% male, mean age 54.3 years, 62% alcoholic cirrhosis). Hospitalizations for gastroesophageal variceal bleeding significantly decreased from 96.6 per 100000 admissions for the time period 1998-2001 to 70.6 per 100000 admissions for the time period 2006-2009 (P value for trend = 0.01). There were significant reductions in variceal hemorrhage from non-alcoholic cirrhosis (41.6 per 100000 admissions in 1998-2001 to 19.7 per 100000 admissions in 2006-2009, P value for trend = 0.007).

Hospitalizations for variceal hemorrhage have decreased, most notably in patients with non-alcoholic cirrhosis, and this may reflect broader use of strategies to prevent bleeding.

Total joint arthroplasty (TJA) is becoming more prevalent, with additional increases in procedure rates expected as the US population ages. Small series have suggested increased risk of periprosthetic joint infections in patients with liver cirrhosis after TJA. However, the rates of periprosthetic joint infections and use of TJA for patients with cirrhosis have not been evaluated on a larger scale.

The purposes of this study were to (1) measure the rate of periprosthetic joint infections after THAs and TKAs in patients with cirrhosis of the liver; (2) assess mortality, length of hospital stay, readmission rates, and other clinical factors among patients with cirrhosis who have had a TJA; and (3) evaluate the use of TJA in the United States among patients with liver cirrhosis during the past decade.

National and state-level databases were used to identify patients with and without liver cirrhosis who underwent TJAs. The rate of periprosthetic joint infections within 6 months was assessed using the Statewide Inpatient Database, which identified 306,946 patients undergoing THAs (0.3% with cirrhosis) and 573,840 patients undergoing TKAs (0.2% with cirrhosis). To evaluate trends in the use of TJAs, 16,634 patients with cirrhosis who underwent TJAs were identified from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample from 2000 to 2010.

Periprosthetic joint infections after THA were more common in patients with cirrhosis for hip fracture (6.3% versus 1.1%; hazard ratio [HR], 5.8; p < 0.001) and nonhip fracture diagnoses (3.7% versus 0.7%; HR, 5.4; p < 0.001). Periprosthetic joint infections were more common after TKA in patients with cirrhosis (2.7% versus 0.8%; HR, 3.4; p < 0.001). Use of TJA increased faster for patients with cirrhosis than for patients without cirrhosis for THAs (140% versus 80%; p = 0.011) and TKAs (213% versus 128%; p < 0.001), and also increased faster than the general increase in use of TJAs.

Periprosthetic joint infections were more common among patients with cirrhosis who had TJAs. Additionally, patients with cirrhosis had longer length of hospital stay, increased costs, and higher rates of mortality, readmission, and reoperation. Finally, national use of TJAs for patients with cirrhosis has increased during the past decade.

Level III, therapeutic study. See the Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), along with the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act, was signed into law and upheld by the Supreme Court earlier this year. The ACA contains a variety of reforms that, if implemented, will significantly affect current models of healthcare delivery for patients with acute and chronic hepatobiliary diseases. One of the Act's central reforms is the creation of accountable care organizations (ACOs) whose mission will be to integrate different levels of care to improve the quality of services delivered and outcomes among populations while maintaining, or preferably reducing, the overall costs of care. Currently, there are clinical practice areas within hepatology, such as liver transplantation, that already have many of the desired features attributed to ACOs. The ACA is sure to affect all fields of medicine, including the practice of clinical hepatology. This article describes the components of the ACA that have the greatest potential to influence the clinical practice of hepatology.

Ultimately, it will be the responsibility of our profession to identify optimal healthcare delivery models for providing high-value, patient-centered care.

Prognosis of decompensated alcoholic cirrhosis is based mainly on studies that included patients with different severities of liver disease and did not recognize either hepatitis C virus epidemic or changes in clinical management of cirrhosis.

To define the long-term course after the first hepatic decompensation in alcoholic cirrhosis.

Prospective inclusion at the start point of decompensated cirrhosis of 165 consecutive patients with alcoholic cirrhosis without known hepatocellular carcinoma hospitalized from January 1998 to December 2001 was made. Follow-up was maintained until death or the end of the observation period (April 1, 2010).

The patients were followed for 835.75 patient years. Median age was 56 years (95% confidence interval: 54-58). Baseline Child-Pugh score was 9 (95% CI: 8-9), and model for end-stage liver disease (MELD) was 13.8 (95% CI: 12.5-14.7). Ascites was the most frequent first decompensation (51%). During follow-up, 99 (60%) patients were abstinent, hepatocellular carcinoma developed in 18 (11%) patients, and 116 patients died (70%). Median overall survival was 61 months (95% CI: 48-74). Median survival probability after onset of hepatic encephalopathy (HE) was only 14 months (95% CI: 5-23). Age, baseline MELD, albumin, development of HE, and persistence of alcohol use were independently correlated with mortality.

Patients with alcoholic cirrhosis show a high frequency of complications. The low mortality rate in our cohort of patients probably reflects the improvement in the management of patients with cirrhosis; it is mainly influenced by baseline MELD, age, HE development, and continued abstinence. Patients who develop HE should be considered for hepatic transplantation.