Table 1.
Demographic and clinical characteristics in patients with hepatocellular and cholestatic liver cirrhosis
| Hepatocellular cirrhosis (n = 127) | Cholestatic cirrhosis (n = 29) | p-value | |
| Age | 56 (11) | 54 (14) | 0.496 |
| Female/Male | 33/94 (26%/74%) | 9/20 (31%/69%) | 0.580 |
| Outpatients/inpatients | 104/23 (82%/18%) | 25/4 (86%/14%) | 0.579 |
| Previous variceal bleeding | 37 (29%) | 8 (28%) | 0.953 |
| Esophageal and/or fundic varices | 88 (69%) | 24 (83%) | 0.139 |
| Ascites | 55 (43%) | 9 (31%) | 0.225 |
| Hepatocellular carcinoma | 22 (17%) | 1 (3.4%) | 0.06 |
| Number connection test A | |||
| Mean (SD) (sec) | 61 (44) | 50 (44) | 0.258 |
| Above 3 SDa | 17 (13%) | 3 (10%) | 0.567 |
| Number Connection test B | |||
| Mean (SD) (sec) | 148 (82) | 118 (69) | 0.08 |
| Above 3 SDa | 26 (20%) | 4 (14%) | 0.303 |
| Overt hepatic encephalopathy | 32 (25%) | 4 (14%) | 0.216 |
| (West-Haven)b | |||
| Grade I | 30 (23.5%) | 3 (10.5%) | |
| Grade II | 2 (1.5%) | 1 (3.5%) | |
| Minimal hepatic encephalopathyc | 9 (7%) | 2 (7%) | 0.93 |
| Hepatic encephalopathy | 41 (32%) | 6 (21%) | 0.175 |
| (minimal or overt) | |||
| Fasting plasma ammonium ion (μmol/l) | 58 (37) | 52 (21) | 0.292 |
| MELD score | 13.7 (6.2) | 14.3 (5.4) | 0.645 |
| Child-Pugh score | 8.6 (2.4) | 8.8 (2) | 0.752 |
| Diabetes Mellitus | 44 (35%) | 3 (10%) | 0.01 |
Data are presented as mean (SD) or n (%) as appropriate
a Compared to age-corrected normal values from the general population
b Overt hepatic encephalopathy according to West-Haven criteria: none with grade III or IV
c Defined as absence of overt hepatic encephalopathy and number connection test A > 3SD and/or number connection test B > 3SD