Table 1.

Baseline and psychometric variables in the three groups of patients with cirrhosis in the cross-sectional study part A

	Normal cirrhotics (N=52)	Minimal HE (N=120)	Overt HE (N=54)	P value of comparison between normal and Overt HE	P value of comparison between Minimal and Overt HE
Age (years)	52 ± 2	55 ± 1	55 ± 1	0.23	0.28
Education (years)	14 ± 2	14 ± 2	13 ± 1	0.14	0.17
Etiology of cirrhosis (HCV/Alcohol/Both/Other)	38/5/4/5	80/21/11/8	39/7/5/3	0.5	0.3
MELD score (median)	8	9	10	0.10	0.45
Number connection-A (seconds)	27 ± 8	38 ± 15	45 ± 32	0.001	0.22
Number connection-B (seconds)	75 ± 41	115 ± 60	131 ± 72	0.0001	0.23
Digit symbol test (raw score)	72 ± 13	53 ± 13	46 ± 18	0.0001	0.03
Block design test (raw score)	37 ± 12	27 ± 11	26 ± 11	0.0001	0.80
ICT lures (number responded out of 40)	5 ± 4	13 ± 7	13 ± 9	0.0001	0.79
ICT targets (% correct response)	98 ± 3	92 ± 9	91 ± 10	0.0001	0.66

All comparisons between the normal cirrhotics and the 2 impaired groups were significant at a level of p<0.001. A high score on number connection-A/B and ICT lures and a low digit symbol, block design and ICT target number indicate poor psychometric performance. Only digit symbol test was significantly more impaired in overt patients compared to those with minimal HE; the rest of the comparison was statistically similar.

HE: hepatic encephalopathy, ICT: inhibitory control test.