Table 1.

Broad categories and data elements collected in the Chinese Acute-on-Chronic Liver Failure validation cohort study

Broad categories	Data elements
Demographic data	Age, sex, ethnicity, identity number, postal code, address, mobile number, education status and insurance status
Medical history	Aetiology and duration of chronic liver disease, type of present and/or previous acute decompensation or acute liver injury, possible predisposition (HBV reactivation, infection, recent alcohol intake, etc) and history of other chronic disease (hypertension, diabetes, etc)
Basic and vital signs	Height, weight, body mass index, temperature, heart rate, blood pressure and oxygen saturation (read from pulse oximeters)
Laboratory tests	Routine blood test (HGB, WBC, PLT count and neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio), liver function (ALT, AST, TB, AKP, γ-GT, albumin, prealbumin), renal function test (creatinine, BUN), blood-gas analysis and electrolytes (pH, sodium, potassium), coagulation series (prothrombin time, INR, D-dimer), others (blood ammonia, C reactive protein, procalcitonin, AFP, CA199, fasting blood glucose)
Hepatitis virus tests	HBV (HBV-DNA, HBsAg, HBsAb, HBeAg, HBeAb, HBcAb), HCV, HAV and HEV antibodies (IgM)
Optional laboratory tests (if necessary）	Thromboelastogram, cytokine, serum amyloid A, serum ferritin; ascites test (if patients take paracentesis): RBC count, WBC, count and proportion of polynuclear cell; autoimmune liver disease test; evaluation of Bacterial infection (sputum, blood, midstream urine, ascites, bile culture)
Imaging examination	Abdominal B ultrasound, abdominal CT/MRI scan, fibro-scan
Organ failure assessment	Liver, coagulation, respiratory, renal, brain, circulation failure
Hospitalisation summary	Medication (starting and ending times and dosage of antibiotics, glucocorticoids and proton pump inhibitor), hospitalisation duration and expenses
Status/outcome	Survival, liver transplantation (LT), death, lost to follow-up, re-hospitalised, malignancy detected, including the time of outcome, pathology results of the removed liver (for LT) or cause of death

AFP, alpha-fetoprotein; AKP, alkaline phosphatase; BUN, blood urea nitrogen; CA199, carbohydrate antigen; γ-GT, gamma-glutamyl transferase; HAV, hepatitis A virus; HBV, hepatitis B virus; HCV, hepatitis C virus; HEV, hepatitis E virus; HGB, haemoglobin; INR, international normalised ratio; PLT, platelet; RBC, red blood cell; WBC, white cell count.