Bacterial Infection and Predictors of Mortality in Patients with Autoimmune Liver Disease-Associated Acute-On-Chronic Liver Failure

OBJECTIVE: To date, few studies are available on autoimmune liver disease-associated acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF). The aim of this study is to investigate bacterial infection and predictors of mortality in these patients. METHODS: We retrospectively studied patients with autoimmune liver disease from August 2012 to August 2017. Clinical data of the patients were retrieved for analysis. RESULTS: There were 53 ACLF patients and 53 patients without ACLF in this study. The ACLF group had a higher prevalence of complications (P < 0.05). The 28-day and 90-day mortality rates were also obviously high in patients with ACLF (38.3% and 74.5%, resp.) (P < 0.05). No predictor was significantly associated with 28-day and 90-day transplant-free mortality. In 53ACLF patients, 40 (75.5%) patients showed bacterial infection. ACLF patients with bacterial infection showed high Child-Pugh score, MELD score, CLIF-SOFA score, 28-day mortality, and 90-day mortality (P > 0.05). Moreover, C-reactive protein (CRP) using 12.15 mg/L cut-off value proved to be more accurate than procalcitonin in identifying patients with infection. CONCLUSIONS: Autoimmune liver disease-associated ACLF showed more complications and high mortality. Bacterial infection patients displayed a more severe condition than those without infection. Elevated CRP is an accurate marker for diagnosing bacterial infection in autoimmune liver disease-associated ACLF patients.