Bacterial infection triggers and complicates acute-on-chronic liver failure in patients with hepatitis B virus-decompensated cirrhosis: A retrospective cohort study

BACKGROUNDReports on bacterial infection (BI) in decompensated cirrhosis (DC) is mainly from alcoholic cirrhosis.The role of BI as a trigger or complication of acute-onchronic liver failure (ACLF) in patients with hepatitis B virus decompensated cirrhosis (HBV-DC) remains to be investigated. AIMTo investigate the impact of BI on the outcomes of the patients with HBV-DC admitted into the hospital with or without ACLF. METHODSThis retrospective study included patients with HBV-DC admitted to two tertiary centers in China.In-hospital overall survival, 90-d transplant-free survival, 5-year post-discharge survival, and cumulative incidence of ACLF were evaluated.Risk factors for death were analyzed considering liver transplantation as a competing event.