Changing the cause of liver cirrhosis from hepatitis B virus to fatty liver in Iranian patients

AIM: The objective of this study was to determine the epidemiologic characteristics of patients with liver cirrhosis. BACKGROUND: Liver cirrhosis is an end-stage condition of chronic liver disease. Liver disease is an important cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, demographic and epidemiologic characteristics of 203 patients with liver cirrhosis who were admitted in Taleghani Hospital over a period of two years were determined. RESULTS: A total of 203 patients with liver cirrhosis consisted of 136 (67%) males and 67 (33%) females and the mean age was 53.7±15.2 years. No etiology were found in (59.6%) cirrhotic patients; therefore, they were labeled as cryptogenic cirrhosis, but according to clinical evidence and ultrasonography findings, (29.7%) of these patients were probable NAFLD. The other causes of liver cirrhosis in this study were HBV (20.2%), HCV (11.8%) and autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) (8.4%), respectively. Esophageal varices were present in (41.9%), ascites in (36.5%), variceal bleeding in (8.9%), encephalopathy in (7.4%) and spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (SBP) in (5.4%) of patients. When cirrhotic patients were grouped according to Child-Pugh classification, 26.1%, 54.7% and 19.2% were in classes A, B and C respectively. The mean MELD score was 16.16±7.7. CONCLUSION: In this study we found that the leading etiology of cirrhosis is cryptogenic cirrhosis 59.6% (in all age groups) and followed by HBV. Noteworthy, according to the clinical and ultrasonography findings, 29.7% of patients who were labeled as cryptogenic cirrhosis were consistent with NAFLD.