Table 1.
Demographical and clinical data of the healthy controls and cirrhotic patients.
| Variable | Healthy controls (n = 38) | non-HE patients (n = 31) | MHE patients (n = 24) | P value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age (Y) | 48.6 ± 12.7 | 46.6 ± 10.2 | 52.3 ± 9.2 | 0.187∣ |
| Gender (M/F) | 25/13 | 24/7 | 19/5 | 0.411~ |
| NCT-A (s)∗# | 45.1 ± 12.7 | 42.7 ± 9.6 | 69.5 ± 17.4 | <0.001∣ |
| DST (score)∗#$ | 49.8 ± 9.8 | 42.5 ± 9.6 | 25.6 ± 7.7 | <0.001∣ |
| Posthepatitic cirrhosis (n) | — | 21 | 17 | — |
| Biliary cirrhosis (n) | — | 3 | 3 | — |
| Schistosomal cirrhosis (n) | — | 0 | 1 | — |
| Alcoholic cirrhosis (n) | — | 1 | 1 | — |
| Budd-Chiari syndrome (n) | — | 1 | 0 | — |
| Unknown aetiology (n) | — | 5 | 2 | — |
| Child-Pugh scores (score) | — | 6.4 ± 1.5 | 6.8 ± 1.7 | 0.40! |
| Child-Pugh scale (A/B/C) | — | 20/10/1 | 11/12/1 | — |
| Ammonia level (umol/L)@ | — | 52.8 ± 34.6 (n = 26) | 61.2 ± 28.8 (n = 19) | 0.398! |
Values are mean ± SD or number of patients; MHE: minimal hepatic encephalopathy; NCT-A: number connection test type A; DST: digit symbol test.
@Ammonia is obtained in 19 MHE patients and 26 non-HE patients.
!stands for the results of two-sample t-test.
∣stands for the result of the one-way ANOVA.
~stands for the result of the Chi-Square test.
*stands for significant difference between MHE and non-HE patients (post hoc P <0.05, Bonferroni-corrected).
#stands for significant difference between MHE patients and controls (post hoc P <0.05, Bonferroni-corrected).
$stands for significant differences between non-HE patients and controls (post hoc P <0.05, Bonferroni-corrected).