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Abstract Details
The relationship between frailty and cirrhosis etiology: From the Functional Assessment in Liver Transplantation (FrAILT) Study
Liver Int. 2021 Jul 5.doi: 10.1111/liv.15006. Online ahead of print.
Chelsea Q Xu1, Yara Mohamad1, Matthew R Kappus2, Brian Boyarsky3, Daniel R Ganger4, Michael L Volk5, Robert S Rahimi6, Andres Duarte-Rojo7, Mara McAdams-DeMarco38, Dorry L Segev38, Daniela P Ladner910, Elizabeth C Verna11, Joshua Grab12, Monica Tincopa13, Michael A Dunn7, Jennifer C Lai1
Author information
1Department of Medicine, University of California-San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
2Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Medicine, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, USA.
3Department of Surgery, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
4Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Department of Medicine, Northwestern Medicine, Chicago, IL, USA.
5Division of Gastroenterology & Hepatology, and Transplantation Institute, Loma Linda University Health, Loma Linda, CA, USA.
6Annette C. and Harold C. Simmons Transplant Institute, Baylor University Medical Center, Baylor Scott and White, Dallas, TX, USA.
7Center for Liver Diseases, Thomas A. Starzl Transplantation Institute, and Pittsburgh Liver Research Center, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
8Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA.
9Division of Transplantation, Department of Surgery, Northwestern Medicine, Chicago, IL, USA.
10Comprehensive Transplant Center, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA.
11Center for Liver Disease and Transplantation, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, USA.
12Department of Surgery, University of California-San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
13Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
Abstract
Background & aims: Cirrhosis leads to malnutrition and muscle wasting that manifests as frailty, which may be influenced by cirrhosis aetiology. We aimed to characterize the relationship between frailty and cirrhosis aetiology.
Methods: Included were adults with cirrhosis listed for liver transplantation (LT) at 10 US centrer who underwent ambulatory testing with the Liver Frailty Index (LFI; 'frail' = LFI ≥ 4.4). We used logistic regression to associate aetiologies and frailty, and competing risk regression (LT as the competing risk) to determine associations with waitlist mortality (death/delisting for sickness).
Results: Of 1,623 patients, rates of frailty differed by aetiology: 22% in chronic hepatitis C, 31% in alcohol-associated liver disease (ALD), 32% in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), 21% in autoimmune/cholestatic and 31% in 'other' (P < .001). In univariable logistic regression, ALD (OR 1.53, 95% CI 1.12-2.09), NAFLD (OR 1.64, 95% CI 1.18-2.29) and 'other' (OR 1.58, 95% CI 1.06-2.36) were associated with frailty. In multivariable logistic regression, only ALD (OR 1.40; 95% 1.01-1.94) and 'other' (OR 1.59; 95% 1.05-2.40) remained associated with frailty. A total of 281 (17%) patients died/were delisted for sickness. In multivariable competing risk regression, LFI was associated with waitlist mortality (sHR 1.05, 95% CI 1.03-1.06), but aetiology was not (P > .05 for each). No interaction between frailty and aetiology on the association with waitlist mortality was found (P > .05 for each interaction term).
Conclusions: Frailty is more common in patients with ALD, NAFLD and 'other' aetiologies. However, frailty was associated with waitlist mortality independent of cirrhosis aetiology, supporting the applicability of frailty across all cirrhosis aetiologies.