Malnutrition in alcoholic hepatitis

Alcohol, malnutrition, and alcoholic cirrhosis1

The relative importance of malnutrition and alcohol toxicity in the pathogenesis of cirrhosis has been controversiaL In epidemiological studies the incidence of cirrhosis can be correlated with the duration and amount of alcohol imbibed. The importance of nutrition has been discounted. In these studies few analyses of dietary intake were included. Diets of patients with alcoholic cirrhosis char...

Alcoholic hepatitis

Alcoholic hepatitis (AH) is a clinical syndrome characterized by jaundice and liver failure that generally occurs after decades of harmful alcohol consumption. Less severe forms of acute AH (AAH) frequently respond to alcoholic abstinence; whereas severe AAHs are characterized by a poor prognosis: up to 40-60% of these patients die within six months. Glucocorticoids currently remain the mainsta...

VA cooperative study on alcoholic hepatitis. II: Prognostic significance of protein-calorie malnutrition.

Three hundred and fifty-two patients with alcoholic hepatitis were evaluated for protein-calorie malnutrition (PCM). In order to facilitate data analysis of nutritional status, a PCM score was calculated for each patient using eight nutritional parameters. The PCM score correlated significantly with mortality, clinical severity of the liver disease, and biochemical liver dysfunction. When 30 da...

Establishing prognosis in alcoholic hepatitis.

Infections in severe alcoholic hepatitis

Severe alcoholic hepatitis (sAH), defined by a modified discriminant function ≥32, is the most severe form of alcohol-induced liver disease and is associated with a 1-month mortality rate of around 30%. Corticosteroid treatment remains the only therapeutic option that improves short-term survival. Infectious complications, occurring in approximately 50% of patients, are the main causes of death...