Table 1.
Baseline characteristics of 212 patients with cirrhosis on the liver transplant waitlist and by frailty category†
| Pretransplant characteristics∗ | All (N = 212) | Robust (n = 26; 12%) | Pre-frail (n = 141; 67%) | Frail (n = 45; 21%) | p value∗∗ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Demographics | |||||
| Hospitals | |||||
| La Fe | 80 (38%) | 15 (58%) | 50 (35%) | 15 (33%) | 0.116 |
| Clínic | 83 (39%) | 9 (35%) | 55 (39%) | 19 (42%) | |
| Reina Sofia | 21 (10%) | 1 (4%) | 18 (13%) | 2 (4%) | |
| Lozano Blesa | 14 (7%) | 1 (4%) | 7 (5%) | 6 (13%) | |
| Gregorio Marañón | 14 (7%) | 0 | 11 (8%) | 3 (7%) | |
| Age, years | 60 (50-65) | 58 (55-63) | 59 (55-64) | 64 (59-68) | 0.006 |
| Female sex | 40 (19%) | 1 (4%) | 31 (22%) | 8 (18%) | 0.092 |
| Body mass index |
28 (25-31) |
29 (26-31) |
28 (25-30) |
27 (24-31) |
0.269 |
| Baseline liver condition | |||||
| Etiology of liver disease | |||||
| HCV | 79 (37%) | 16 (62%) | 54 (38%) | 9 (20%) | 0.041 |
| Alcohol | 74 (35%) | 7 (27%) | 46 (33%) | 21 (47%) | |
| NASH | 27 (13%) | 0 | 20 (14%) | 7 (16%) | |
| HBV | 14 (7%) | 3 (12%) | 8 (6%) | 3 (7%) | |
| Cholestasic | 2 (1%) | 0 | 2 (1%) | 0 | |
| Other | 16 (8%) | 0 | 11 (8%) | 5 (11%) | |
| HIV infection | 2 (8%) | 7 (5%) | 0 | 0.232 | |
| HCC | 121 (57%) | 24 (92%) | 83 (59%) | 14 (31%) | <0.001 |
| Laboratory tests | |||||
| MELD | 12 (9-18) | 8 (7-10) | 12 (9-17) | 16 (12-23) | <0.001 |
| MELD-Na | 12 (9-19) | 8 (7-10) | 12 (9-19) | 19 (12-27) | <0.001 |
| MELD 3.0 | 13 (9-19) | 7 (6-11) | 12 (9-18) | 18 (13-25) | <0.001 |
| Albumin, g/dl | 3.7 (3.2-4.2) | 4.5 (4.1-4.8) | 3.7 (3.2-4.2) | 3.2 (3.0-3.9) | <0.001 |
| Ascites | |||||
| Absent | 87 (41%) | 20 (77%) | 61 (43%) | 6 (13%) | <0.001 |
| Mild-moderate | 86 (41%) | 6 (23%) | 53 (38%) | 27 (60%) | |
| Severe | 39 (18%) | 0 | 27 (19%) | 12 (27%) | |
| Hepatic encephalopathy | 74 (35%) | 2 (8%) | 41 (29%) | 31 (69%) | <0.001 |
| Child-Pugh score |
7 (5-10) |
5 (5-6) |
7 (5-9) |
10 (7-11) |
<0.001 |
| Cardiovascular comorbidities | |||||
| Arterial hypertension | 72 (34%) | 6 (23%) | 49 (35%) | 17 (38%) | 0.426 |
| Dyslipidemia | 46 (22%) | 4 (15%) | 32 (23%) | 10 (22%) | 0.705 |
| Diabetes (type 1 or type 2) | 68 (32%) | 4 (15%) | 49 (35%) | 15 (33%) | 0.148 |
| History of cardiovascular disease |
22 (10%) |
2 (8%) |
13 (9%) |
7 (16%) |
0.427 |
| Pretransplant frailty | |||||
| Liver frailty index | 3.9 (3.5-4.4) | 2.9 (2.6-3.0) | 3.7 (3.5-3.9) | 4.8 (4.6-5.1) | <0.001 |
| Days between frailty assessment and transplant date | 41 (14-99) | 50 (20-129) | 46 (16-99) | 22 (6-65) | 0.199 |
Values in bold denote statistically significant results (p <0.05). HCC, hepatocellular carcinoma; MELD, model for end-stage liver disease; MELD-Na, MELD-sodium; NASH, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis.
†
Defined by the liver frailty index as “Robust” if score <3.2, “Pre-frail” if score between 3.2-4.4 and “Frail” if score ≥4.5.
∗
Median (interquartile range) or n (%).
∗∗
Results of the Chi-square or Kruskal-Wallis tests.