TABLE 2.
Baseline patient characteristics of the entire cohort and by frailty categories using the Liver Frailty Index or the Subjective Clinician Assessment
| Pretransplant characteristicsb | (A) All (n = 180) | Liver Frailty Indexa | Subjective Clinician Assessment | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A) | (B) Robust (n = 23, 13%) | (C) Prefrail (n = 123, 68%) | (D) Frail (n = 34, 19%) | P c | (E) Good (n = 100, 55%) | (F) Fair (n = 61, 34%) | (G) Poor (n = 19, 11%) | P c | |
| Demographics | |||||||||
| Hospitals | |||||||||
| La Fe | 37% | 65% | 33% | 32% | 0.024 | 40% | 34% | 32% | 0.226 |
| Clínic | 38% | 26% | 40% | 38% | 32% | 44% | 47% | ||
| Reina Sofia | 11% | 4% | 14% | 3% | 16% | 5% | 0 | ||
| Lozano Blesa | 8% | 4% | 6% | 18% | 6% | 10% | 11% | ||
| Gregorio Marañón | 7% | 0% | 7% | 9% | 6% | 7% | 11% | ||
| Age, y | 60 (55–65) | 59 (55–62) | 59 (55–64) | 64 (60–69) | 0.005 | 58 (55–64) | 60 (54–65) | 62 (60–66) | 0.086 |
| Female sex | 30 (17%) | 4% | 20% | 15% | 0.190 | 13% | 21% | 21% | 0.336 |
| Body Mass Index | 28 (25–31) | 28 (26–30) | 28 (25–31) | 27 (24–31) | 0.545 | 27 (25–30) | 28 (25–33) | 27 (24–29) | 0.371 |
| Baseline liver disease | |||||||||
| Etiology of liver disease | |||||||||
| Chronic hepatitis C | 37% | 65% | 36% | 21% | 0.022 | 50% | 23% | 11% | 0.003 |
| Alcohol | 35% | 22% | 33% | 53% | 27% | 44% | 47% | ||
| MASH | 12% | 0% | 15% | 9% | 12% | 11% | 16% | ||
| Chronic hepatitis B | 7% | 13% | 7% | 6% | 8% | 4% | 5% | ||
| Cholestatic | 1% | 0% | 2% | 0% | 0% | 2% | 5% | ||
| Other | 8% | 0 | 8% | 12% | 3% | 13% | 16% | ||
| HIV infection | 4% | 9% | 5% | 0 | 0.273 | 6% | 3% | 0 | 0.441 |
| Hepatocellular carcinoma | 59% | 96% | 59% | 32% | <0.001 | 87% | 28% | 11% | <0.001 |
| Laboratory tests at LT | |||||||||
| MELD | 12 (9–18) | 8 (7–10) | 12 (9–17) | 16 (12–23) | <0.001 | 9 (7–12) | 17 (13–21) | 18 (14–25) | <0.001 |
| MELD score with the addition of sodium serum concentration | 12 (9–19) | 8 (7–10) | 12 (9–19) | 19 (12–27) | <0.001 | 9 (7–12) | 19 (13–24) | 21 (17–27) | <0.001 |
| MELD 3.0 | 13 (9–19) | 7 (6–11) | 13 (9–19) | 18 (13–25) | <0.001 | 9 (7–13) | 19 (14–24) | 20 (17–28) | <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 | 4.0 (3.6–4.5) | 3.3 (2.9–3.9) | 3.0 (2.7–3.9) | <0.001 |
| Ascites | |||||||||
| Absent | 41% | 78% | 42% | 12% | <0.001 | 66% | 11% | 5% | <0.001 |
| Mild–moderate | 40% | 22% | 39% | 56% | 27% | 58% | 37% | ||
| Severe | 19% | 0% | 19% | 32% | 7% | 31% | 58% | ||
| Hepatic encephalopathy | 34% | 9% | 29% | 68% | <0.001 | 13% | 56% | 74% | <0.001 |
| Child-Pugh score | 7 (5–10) | 5 (5–6) | 7 (5–9) | 10 (7–11) | <0.001 | 5 (5–7) | 9 (8–11) | 10 (8–12) | <0.001 |
| Cardiovascular Risk Factors | |||||||||
| Arterial hypertension | 34% | 22% | 35% | 38% | 0.394 | 30% | 43% | 26% | 0.198 |
| Dyslipidemia | 23% | 17% | 24% | 26% | 0.724 | 21% | 26% | 26% | 0.710 |
| Diabetes (type 1 or type 2) | 33% | 17% | 37% | 29% | 0.151 | 35% | 26% | 47% | 0.202 |
| Cardiovascular disease | 9% | 9% | 9% | 12% | 0.876 | 5% | 18% | 5% | 0.019 |
| Donor characteristics | |||||||||
| Age, y | 59 (50–72) | 62 (51–74) | 58 (49–69) | 64 (50–72) | 0.624 | 59 (50–73) | 57 (48–71) | 67 (53–74) | 0.239 |
| Donation after circulatory death LT | 24% | 13% | 28% | 12% | 0.073 | 25% | 21% | 16% | 0.643 |
| Pretransplant Frailty Assessments | |||||||||
| Liver Frailty Index | 3.9 (3.5–4.3) | 2.8 (2.6–3.0) | 3.7 (3.5–3.9) | 4.8 (4.6–5.1) | <0.001 | 3.6 (3.3–4.1) | 4.1 (3.8–4.5) | 4.9 (4.2–5.2) | <0.001 |
| Days between frailty assessment and LT date | 41 (14–99) | 50 (20–129) | 46 (16–99) | 22 (6–65) | 0.199 | 47 (19–106) | 36 (10–97) | 33 (7–84) | 0.422 |
| Posttransplant Frailty Assessments | |||||||||
| Frailty assessments at 3-mo posttransplant | 66% | 61% | 67% | 65% | 0.860 | 67% | 64% | 63% | 0.900 |
| Frailty assessments at 6-mo posttransplant | 78% | 83% | 80% | 65% | 0.123 | 81% | 75% | 68% | 0.415 |
Bold values indicate significant results.
aDefined by the Liver Frailty Index as “Robust” if the score <3.2, “Prefrail” if the score between 3.2 and 4.4 and “Frail” if the score ≥4.5
bMedian (interquartile range) or N (%).
cResults of the Chi-square or Kruskal-Wallis tests.
LT, liver transplantation; MASH, Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis; MELD, Model for End-Stage Liver Disease.