Here we aimed to assess the mortality risk and distribution of deaths from different complications and etiologies for non-alcoholic liver cirrhosis (NALC) adult inpatients and compare them with that of the general hospitalized adult population. Hospitalized patients with a primary diagnosis of NALC and aged between 30 and 80 years of age from 1999 to 2010 were identified using a population-based administrative claims database in Taiwan. They were matched with a general, non-NALC population of hospitalized patients. Causes of death considered were variceal hemorrhage, ascites, hepatic encephalopathy, spontaneous bacterial peritonitis, hepatocellular carcinoma, jaundice, and hepatorenal syndrome. A total of 109,128 NALC inpatients were included and then matched with 109,128 inpatients without NALC. Overall mortality rates were 21.2 (95% CI: 21.0-21.4) and 6.27 (95% CI: 6.17-6.37) per 100 person-years, respectively. Among complications that caused death in NALC patients, variceal hemorrhage was the most common (23.7%, 11.9 per 100 person-years), followed by ascites (20.9%, 10.4 per 100 person-years) and encephalopathy (18.4%, 9.21 per 100 person-years). Among all etiologies, mortality rates were highest for NALC patients with HBV infection (43.7%, 21.8 per 100 person-years), followed by HBV-HCV coinfection (41.8%, 20.9 per 100 person-years), HCV infection (41.2%, 20.6 per 100 person-years), and NAFLD (35.9%, 17.9 per 100 person-years). In this study, we demonstrated that mortality risks in NALC patients may differ with their etiology and their subsequent complications. Patients' care plans, thus, should be formulated accordingly.
Keywords: ascites; cause of death; chronic hepatitis B; chronic hepatitis C; complications; disease management; hepatic encephalopathy; liver cirrhosis; mortality; nonalcoholic; varices.