Prognostic Factors in Primary Biliary Cholangitis: A Retrospective Study of Joint Slovak and Croatian Cohort of 249 Patients

Objective: To identify pretreatment laboratory parameters associated with treatment response and to describe the relationship between treatment response and liver decompensation in patients with primary biliary cholangitis treated with ursodeoxycholic acid. Methods: We defined treatment response as both ALP ≤ 1.67 × ULN and total bilirubin ≤ 2 × ULN. Multiple logistic regression analyses were performed to adjust for confounding effects of sociodemographic variables. Results: Pretreatment total bilirubin ((TB); OR = 0.3388, 95%CI = 0.1671–0.6077), ALT (OR = 0.5306, 95%CI = 0.3830–0.7080), AST (OR = 0.4065, 95%CI = 0.2690–0.5834), ALP (OR = 0.3440, 95%CI = 0.2356–0.4723), total cholesterol ((TC); OR = 0.7730, 95%CI = 0.6242–0.9271), APRI (OR = 0.3375, 95%CI = 0.1833–0.5774), as well as pretreatment albumin (OR = 1.1612, 95%CI = 1.0706–1.2688) and ALT/ALP (OR = 2.4596, 95%CI = 1.2095–5.5472) were associated with treatment response after six months of treatment. Pretreatment TB (OR = 0.2777, 95%CI = 0.1288–0.5228), ALT (OR = 0.5968, 95%CI = 0.4354–0.7963), AST (OR = 0.4161, 95%CI = 0.2736–0.6076), ALP (OR = 0.4676, 95%CI = 0.3487–0.6048), APRI (OR = 0.2838, 95%CI = 0.1433–0.5141), as well as pretreatment albumin (OR = 1.2359, 95%CI = 1.1257–1.3714) and platelet count (OR = 1.0056, 95%CI = 1.0011–1.0103) were associated with treatment response after 12 months of treatment. Treatment response after 6 months of UDCA therapy is significantly associated with treatment response after 12 months of UDCA therapy (OR = 25.2976, 95% CI = 10.5881–68.4917). Treatment responses after 6 and 12 months of UDCA therapy decrease the risk of an episode of liver decompensation in PBC patients (OR = 12.1156, 95%CI = 3.7192–54.4826 and OR = 21.6000, 95%CI = 6.6319–97.3840, respectively). Conclusions: There are several pretreatment laboratory parameters associated with treatment response in patients with primary biliary cholangitis. Treatment response after six months is significantly associated with treatment response after 12 months of ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) therapy. Treatment responses after 6 and 12 months of UDCA decrease the risk of an episode of liver decompensation.