Table 1.

Summary of baseline characteristics of all patients included as part of the study population.

Characteristic	n (%) unless otherwise indicated
Age	56.40 (9.43)*
Male sex	43 (78.18)
Race
African American	21 (38.18)
White	26 (47.27)
Other$	8 (14.55)
Cause of cirrhosis
Hepatitis C	16 (29.09)
Alcohol	14 (25.45)
Hepatitis C and alcohol	10 (18.18)
Hepatitis B	3 (5.45)
Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis	3 (5.45)
Cryptogenic cirrhosis	3 (5.45)
Other#	6 (10.90)
MELD score	23.80 (8.43)*
Serum creatinine	1.70 (1.20, 2.60)‡
Serum bilirubin	5.40 (2.10, 11.60)‡
Serum INR	1.60 (1.40, 2.10)‡
Serum sodium	133.09 (7.43)*
Immunocompromised status	6 (10.91)
Variceal hemorrhage	8 (14.55)
On antibiotics at time of diagnosis¶	5 (9.09)
Gram-stain positive	6 (13.95)§
Initial peritoneal fluid PMN cell count	773.10 (517.50, 2188.80)‡
Repeat peritoneal fluid PMN cell count	127.60 (56.60, 607.60)‡
Peritoneal fluid culture positive**	22 (40.00)
Gram positive	8 (14.54)
Gram negative	11 (20.00)

INR, international normalized ratio; MELD, model for end-stage liver disease; PMN, polymorphonyclear.

^*Mean (SD).

^$Other races: Hispanic (6), Middle Eastern (1), Eygptian (1).

^#Other causes of ascites: cirrhosis from alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency (2), autoimmune hepatitis (2), giant-cell hepatitis (1), biliary obstruction (1).

^‡Median (Q1, Q3).

^¶Antibiotic regimens: ciprofloxacin weekly for prophylaxis of spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (SBP) (1), ciprofloxacin weekly for SBP prophylaxis and metronidazole for extraperitoneal infection (1), trimethoprim and sulfamethoxazole prophylaxis for patient with HIV (1). Other antibiotic regimens for extraperitoneal infections included dapsone/trimethoprim and sulfamethoxazole/ampicillin (1), vancomycin/cefepime (1).

^§Gram stain not performed on 12 (21.81) patients.

^**Peritoneal fluid culture was negative in 31 (56.36%) patients and not performed on 2 (3.63%) patients. Fluid culture was multi-organismal in 3 (5.45%) patients.