Prevalence of minimal hepatic encephalopathy and quality of life evaluations in hospitalized cirrhotic patients in China

Table 1 Characteristics of the study population with and without minimal hepatic encephalopathy n (%)

Characteristics	MHE	Non-MHE	P value
Gender
Male	140 (67.6)	216 (69.2)	0.77
Female	67 (32.4)	96 (30.8)
Mean age (yr), mean ± SD	51.56 ± 9.70	47.58 ± 11.55	< 0.01
Level of education
Grade six or less	93 (44.9)	34 (10.9)	< 0.01
Junior high school	64 (39.9)	76 (24.4)
Senior high school/vocational school	32 (15.5)	94 (30.1)
College degree or more	12 (5.8)	88 (28.2)
Unknown	6 (2.9)	20 (6.4)
Driving
Yes	50 (24.2)	89 (28.5)	0.22
No	144 (69.6)	193 (61.9)
Unknown	13 (6.3)	30 (9.6)
Primary etiology for chronic liver disease
Hepatitis B virus	117 (56.5)	172 (55.5)	0.18
Hepatitis B virus and alcohol	21 (10.1)	40 (12.9)
Alcohol	30 (14.5)	19 (6.1)
Hepatitis C virus	11 (5.3)	27 (8.7)
Hepatitis B and C virus	2 (1.0)	1 (0.3)
Autoimmune hepatitis	12 (5.8)	27 (8.7)
Other	14 (6.8)	24 (7.7)
History of prior variceal bleeding
Yes	43 (20.7)	82 (26.3)	0.21
No	158 (76.3)	226 (72.4)
Unknown	6 (2.9)	4 (1.3)
History of prior ascites
Yes	131 (63.3)	139 (44.6)	0.00
No	66 (31.9)	168 (53.8)
Unknown	10 (4.8)	5 (1.6)
Duration of liver cirrhosis (yr), mean ± SD	2.28 ± 3.06	2.73 ± 3.21	0.25

MHE: Minimal hepatic encephalopathy.

Table 2 Health-related quality of life scales for patients with and without minimal hepatic encephalopathy

	MHE	Non-MHE	P value
Physical functioning (8 questions)	20.09 ± 6.26	18.10 ± 6.0	< 0.01
Psychological well-being (7 questions)	15.93 ± 6.62	14.80 ± 5.44	0.04
Symptom/side effects (7 questions)	14.98 ± 5.88	13.35 ± 5.61	< 0.01
Social functioning (4 questions)	9.67 ± 2.73	9.66 ± 2.65	0.95
Self-evaluation regarding general-health (4 questions)	9.74 ± 2.73	9.43 ± 2.57	0.21
Total pooled score (30 questions)	69.12 ± 20.40	63.89 ± 18.85	< 0.01

MHE: Minimal hepatic encephalopathy.

Table 3 Health-related quality of life scales for various Child-Pugh classes

	CPC-A	CPC-B	CPC-C	P value
Physical functioning	16.77 ± 5.07	18.94 ± 6.35	20.82 ± 6.33	< 0.01
Psychological well-being	14.43 ± 5.46	15.03 ± 5.93	16.39 ± 6.38	0.02
Symptom/side effects	12.12 ± 5.33	13.56 ± 5.21	16.45 ± 6.05	< 0.01
Social functioning	9.03 ± 2.53	9.60 ± 2.75	10.37 ± 2.58	< 0.01
Self evaluation about general-health	9.20 ± 2.59	9.46 ± 2.74	10.02 ± 2.52	0.02
Total pooled score	61.13 ± 17.24	65.50 ± 19.31	71.61 ± 21.01	< 0.01

CPC: Child-Pugh-Classification.

Table 4 Consistency of diagnosis between one single psychometric test and combined psychometric tests

	NCT and DST		Kappa value (95%CI)	P value
	MHE	Non-MHE
NCT
MHE	207	223	0.24 (0.19-0.29)	< 0.01
Non- MHE	0	89
DST
MHE	207	4	0.98 (0.97-0.99)	0.05
Non- MHE	0	308

NCT: Number connection test; DST: Digit-symbol test; MHE: Minimal hepatic encephalopathy.