The comparison of bacterial infection rate in the patients with alcoholic and viral cirrhosis

Park, Jeong Sik; Cho, Yong Kyun; Rhee, Eun Jung; Jeong, Soo Suk; Kim, Si Young; Kim, Chang Seop; Park, Chang Young; Sohn, Chung Il; Jeon, Woo Kyu; Kim, Byung Ik; Jung, Eul Soon

Abstract

BACKGROUND
Liver cirrhosis may be considered one of the most common cause of acquired immunodeficiency. Alcohol abuse may be predisposing factor to infections in patients with liver cirrhosis, so we compared the rate of spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (SBP) and other bacterial infections in alcoholic and viral liver cirrhosis.
METHODS
We studied 188 patients who had been diagnosed with liver cirrhosis from January 1995 to June 2000 and evaluated the frequency of bacterial infections (SBP, pneumonia, urinary track infection, bacteremia, infectious colitis) retrospectively according to cause and degree of cirrhosis.
RESULTS
Among 188 patients (alcoholic 76, viral 112), 64 patients (34%) presented with bacterial infection at hospitalization, 33 (43%;33/76) of 64 subjects were alcoholic and 31 (28%;31/112) of 64 subjects were viral liver cirrhosis. The rate of bacterial infections was higher in alcoholic liver cirrhosis than viral cirrhosis (p<0.05). The rate of SBP and other bacterial infections were more frequent in patients of Child-Pugh class C than in those of Child-Pugh class A and B (p<0.01, p<0.05) respectively. Patients of alcoholic liver cirrhosis were more susceptible to bacterial infection than those of viral liver cirrhosis with Child-Pugh class A/B (p<0.05), but no difference was noted in patients of Child-Pugh class C (p>0.05).
CONCLUSION
This results suggest that the rate of bacterial infections are more common in alcoholic than viral liver cirrhosis in relatively early stage and it may be influence the prognosis of liver cirrhosis.