Background: Spontaneous bacterial peritonitis is a frequent complication that occurs in patients with cirrhosis and ascites and has a recurrence rate of 70% in 1 year. In addition, this infection determines a poor short and long-term prognosis and a shorter survival rate.
Aims: Evaluate the prevalence of spontaneous bacterial peritonitis in cirrhotic patients with ascites and the effect of its occurrence on the survival.
Patients/methods: One thousand and thirty admissions of patients with cirrhosis and ascites were reviewed and 114 episodes of spontaneous bacterial peritonitis were documented in 94 patients. The ascitic analysis was accomplished in all patients. The diagnosis of this infection was established when the ascitic fluid polymorphonuclear count was equal or above 250 cells mm3.
Results: The prevalence of this infection was 11.1% and the mortality rate 21.9%. Spontaneous bacterial peritonitis was community acquired in 61.4% and hospital acquired in 37.7%. The mortality rate was 18.6% and 27.9%, respectively. The infection resolved in 91.1% of the episodes by the analysis of ascitic fluid at 48 hours on antibiotics. The use of prophylactic antibiotics was documented in 22.3% of the episodes, but there are not significant differences on the mortality or type of bacteria isolated when comparing the patients with or without this treatment.
Conclusions: Spontaneous bacterial peritonitis is a common complication in patients with cirrhosis and ascites and determines a worse prognosis, mainly when related with absence of initial response to antibiotics.