Scoring systems for 6-month mortality in critically ill cirrhotic patients: A prospective analysis of chronic liver failure - Sequential organ failure assessment score (CLIF-SOFA)

Background Cirrhotic patients admitted to intensive care units (ICUs) have high mortality rates. The Chronic Liver Failure-Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (CLIFSOFA) score, a modified Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score, is a newly developed scoring system exclusively for patients with end-stage liver disease.

Aim To externally validate the efficacy of the CLIF-SOFA score and evaluate other scoring systems for 6-month mortality in critically ill cirrhotic patients.

Methods This study prospectively recorded and analysed the data for 30 demographical parameters and some clinical characteristic variables on day 1 of 250 cirrhotic patients admitted to a 10-bed specialised hepatogastroenterology ICU in a 2000-bed tertiary care referral hospital during the period from September 2010 to August 2013.

Results The overall in-hospital and 6-month mortality rate were 58.8% (147/250) and 78.0% (195/250), respectively. Liver diseases were mostly attributed to hepatitis B virus infection (32%). Multiple Cox logistic regression hazard analysis revealed that Glasgow coma scale, both the CLIF-SOFA and Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation III (ACPACHE III) scores determined on the first day of ICU admission were independent predictors of 6-month mortality. Analysis of the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve revealed that the CLIF-SOFA score had the best discriminatory power (0.900 ± 0.020). Moreover, the cumulative 6-month survival rates differed significantly for patients with a CLIF-SOFA score ≤11 and those with a CLIF-SOFA score >11 on the ICU admission day.

Conclusion Both CLIF-SOFA and APACHE III scores are excellent prognosis evaluation tools for critically ill cirrhotic patients.