title: [Bacterial infection in cirrhotic patient].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Bacterial infections at admission or during hospitalization are frequent complication of cirrhosis that occurs in about 30% of the cases. Furthermore they are responsible for 25% of deaths in this population.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  Evaluate the prevalence of bacterial infections in cirrhotic patients at a general hospital and determine its correlation with alcoholic etiology of liver disease; degree of hepatic dysfunction and upper gastrointestinal bleeding.
  
  
  METHODS
  Five hundred and forty one admissions were retrospectively evaluated in 426 cirrhotic patients at years 1992 to 2000. The mean age was 50.5 years (15-95), being 71.2% male. The alcoholic etiology of cirrhosis was 35.4%. The main outcome considered was discharge or death during admission.
  
  
  RESULTS
  One hundred and thirty five episodes of bacterial infections (25%) were diagnosed. The most frequent are urinary tract infection (31.1%), spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (25.9%) and pneumonia (25.2%). The association between urinary tract infection and pneumonia occurred in 3.7% and erysipelas or cellulites in 11.1%. Bacteremia occurred in 2.9%. There was a correlation between bacterial infection and alcoholic etiology of liver disease, hepatic dysfunction and upper gastrointestinal bleeding. The mortality was higher in the infected patients (8.9%) and in those with a poor hepatic function.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Bacterial infections are common complications in cirrhotic patients and are correlated with alcoholic etiology, Child Pugh classification and upper gastrointestinal bleeding. Furthermore, bacterial infections are correlated with poor prognosis.
authors.affiliation: Fundação Faculdade Federal de Ciências Médicas de Porto Alegre, Irmandade Santa Casa de Misericórdia de Porto Alegre, Porto Alegre, RS, Brasil. hmb@santacasa.tche.br
authors.forename: Angelo A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: de Mattos
authors.forename: Gabriela P
authors.initials: GP
authors.lastname: Coral
authors.forename: Eduardo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Menti
authors.forename: Fabiana
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Valiatti
authors.forename: Caroline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kramer
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000150:complications*; D001938:Brazil; D005260:Female; D006471:Gastrointestinal Hemorrhage / Q000150:complications; D006801:Humans; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000150:complications*; D008104:Liver Cirrhosis, Alcoholic / Q000150:complications; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies