studies

860A AASLD ABSTRACTS HEPATOLOGY, October, 2015
1321
Infection in alcoholic hepatitis: a major prognostic indicator
and potential therapeutic target
Richard Parker 1,4 , Fiona Jones 2 , Daniel J. Wheatley 3 , Ian A.
Rowe 1 , Christopher Corbett 3 , Andrew Holt 4 , Stephen Stewart 2 ;
1 Centre for Liver Research, University of Birmingham, Birmingham,
United Kingdom; 2 Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, Dublin,
Ireland; 3 New Cross Hospital, Wolverhampton, United Kingdom;
4 University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, Birmingham,
United Kingdom
Introduction We sought to detail the incidence, consequences
and causes of infection in a cohort of patients with Alcoholic
Hepatitis (AH). Methods Three centres in the UK and Ireland
gathered data from patients with a clinical diagnosis of alcoholic
hepatitis. Clinical, biochemical and microbiological
records were reviewed retrospectively. Infection was defined
by evidence of consolidation on chest x-ray, positive urinalysis,
ascitic fluid analysis showing 250 neutrophils/mm 3 or
positive microbiological culture. Survival was analysed with
Kaplan-Meier (KM) curves and Cox proportional hazard analysis
to control for confounding factors. Characteristics of patients
with or without evidence of infection were compared with twotailed
student’s t-test. Results In total 215 patients were included
with an median follow-up period of 30 months. Average discriminant
function (DF) was 72.7 and 85% of patients had
severe disease (DF >32). Evidence of infection was seen in 97
patients (45%). Patients with infection had significantly higher
serum urea (p