The plasma level of carnitine, a co-factor involved in many metabolic reactions, is high in alcoholic liver cirrhosis, due to an increased amount of esterified carnitine. To determine if this alteration is linked to alcoholic liver disease or to liver cirrhosis per se. total carnitine, free carnitine, total esterified carnitine, short chain acylcarnitine and long chain acylcarnitine were measured in 41 patients suffering from liver cirrhosis of different aetiology and severity. In 19 of these patients, acetylcarnitine was also measured. Moreover, multivariate analysis was performed to assess the association of carnitine plasma levels with nutritional and liver disease indices. Of the nutritional indices (creatinine/height ratio, mid upper arm muscle circumference and triceps skinfold) only triceps skinfold appeared to be weakly correlated with carnitine (with long chain acylcarnitine). Significantly high levels of acetylcarnitine, short chain acylcarnitine, total esterified carnitine and total carnitine were found in cirrhotics independently of the aetiology of cirrhosis, even though a trend towards higher levels of acetylcarnitine was evident in heavy drinkers. Direct correlations of gamma-glutamyltransferase with acetylcarnitine, acetylcarnitine/free carnitine, short chain acylcarnitine/free carnitine and total esterified carnitine/free carnitine were found. Carnitine plasma levels did not differ in the three Pugh-Child's classes; however, a trend towards higher levels of acetylcarnitine was found in Pugh-Child's class C. In conclusion, the high levels of acetylcarnitine, short chain acylcarnitine, total esterified carnitine and total carnitine found in cirrhosis were linked to liver disease. Alcohol abuse seemed only to be an exacerbating factor.