TABLE 1.
Characteristics of Patients with Liver Cirrhosis* (N=7,834)
| Variable | Low-MELDNa group N=3715 |
Mixed- MELD group N=484 |
High-MELD group N=3635 |
P Value | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age-years | 55±11 | 56±11 | 55±11 | 0.2168a | |
| Male-no. (%) | 1955 (53) | 627 (65) | 2292 (63) | <.0001c | |
| Race-no. (%) | |||||
| White | 1458 (39) | 191 (39) | 1499 (41) | 0.0115c | |
| Black | 801 (22) | 97 (20) | 813 (22) | ||
| Hispanic | 799 (22) | 129 (27) | 747 (21) | ||
| Asian | 102 (3) | 6 (1) | 75 (2) | ||
| Other | 555 (15) | 61 (13) | 501 (14) | ||
| Etiology of Cirrhosis†-no. (%) | |||||
| Alcohol | 1149 (31) | 269 (56) | 2125 (58) | <.0001c | |
| Hepatitis C | 1532 (41) | 186 (38) | 1291 (36) | <.0001c | |
| NASH | 695 (19) | 73 (15) | 670 (18) | 0.1510c | |
| Hepatitis B | 291 (8) | 30 (6) | 313 (9) | 0.1365c | |
| Cholestatic Disease | 416 (11) | 24 (5) | 349 (10) | <.0001c | |
| Median Elixhauser Score-(IQR) | 2 (1–4) | 4 (1–6) | 4 (2–7) | <.0001b | |
| Insurance-no. (%) | |||||
| Medicare/Medicaid | 1501 (40) | 213 (44) | 1610 (44) | <.0001c | |
| Private Insurance | 1277 (34) | 128 (26) | 1072 (30) | ||
| Other | 937 (25) | 143 (30) | 953 (26) | ||
| Number of MELDNa Scores | 5±5 | 6±6 | 7±7 | <.0001a | |
| Median MELDNa (IQR) | 9(8–11) | 17 (16–20) | 24(20–30) | <.0001b | |
*
Plus-minus values are means+/− SD.
†
Categories are not mutually exclusive
a
P-Values determined by ANOVA,
b
P-Values determined by Kruskal Wallis test,
c
P-Values determined by Chi-squared test
Table Legend: Demographics of three liver cirrhosis cohorts are shown. For each patient the maximum MELD and MELDNa was calculated. If both the highest MELD and MELDNa score was ≤15 patients were stratified into a Low-MELDNa group; if MELD was ≤15 and MELDNa >15, into a Mixed-MELD group and; if both the highest MELD and MELDNa >15 into a High-MELD group.
Abbrev: MELDNa: MELD Sodium, NASH: Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis