Table 1.
Clinical and elemental analytical characteristics in cirrhotic patients and healthy controls
| Healthy controls (n = 20) | Cirrhotic patients without ascites (n = 20) | Differences: healthy controls versus compensated cirrhosis (P) | Cirrhotic patients with ascites (n = 20) | Differences: healthy controls versus decompensated cirrhosis (P) | Differences: compensated versus decompensated cirrhosis (P) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age (years) | 60(45–66) | 63(54–70) | n.s. | 60(49–68) | n.s. | n.s. |
| Male sex(n, %) | 9(45·0) | 9(45·0) | n.s. | 9(45·0) | n.s. | n.s. |
| Patients with VHC-related cirrhosis(n, %) | 11(55·0) | 11(55·0) | n.s. | |||
| Child–Pugh score(points) | 5(5–6) | 9(8–10) | < 0·001 | |||
| MELD score(points) | 6(6–8) | 13(8–17) | < 0·001 | |||
| Serum ALT(UI/l) | 18(15–23) | 75(46–105) | < 0·001 | 59(13–76) | < 0·001 | n.s. |
| Serum creatinine(mg/dl) | 0·8(0·7–0·9) | 0·8(0·6–0·9) | n.s. | 1·1(0·9–1·4) | 0·010 | 0·013 |
| Leucocytes(1000× cells/mm3) | 6·6(5·4–7·1) | 5·2(3·9–6·4) | n.s. | 4·6(2·5–6·4) | n.s. | n.s. |
| Percentage of lymphocytes(% of total leucocytes) | 33(26–36) | 36(26–46) | n.s. | 16(12–23) | < 0·001 | < 0·001 |
| Percentage of monocytes(% of total leucocytes) | 7(6–8) | 9(7–10) | 0·004 | 11(9–15) | < 0·001 | 0·002 |
Continuous variables are expressed as median (interquartile range) and categorical variables as number (percentage). ALT, alanine aminotransferase; MELD, model for end-stage liver disease; n.s., not significant; VHC, virus hepatitis C.