title: Outcome of acute liver failure in the elderly.
abstract: Older age is considered a poor prognostic factor in acute liver failure (ALF) and may still be considered a relative contraindication for liver transplantation for ALF. We aimed to evaluate the impact of older age, defined as age > or = 60 years, on outcomes in patients with ALF. One thousand one hundred twenty-six consecutive prospective patients from the US Acute Liver Failure Study Group registry were studied. The median age was 38 years (range, 15-81 years). One thousand sixteen patients (90.2%) were younger than 60 years (group 1), and 499 (49.1%) of these had acetaminophen-induced ALF; this rate of acetaminophen-induced ALF was significantly higher than that in patients > or = 60 years (group 2; n = 110; 23.6% with acetaminophen-induced ALF, P < 0.001). The overall survival rate was 72.7% in group 1 and 60.0% in group 2 (not significant) for acetaminophen patients and 67.9% in group 1 and 48.2% in group 2 for non-acetaminophen patients (P < 0.001). The spontaneous survival rate (ie, survival without liver transplantation) was 64.9% in group 1 and 60.0% in group 2 (not significant) for acetaminophen patients and 30.8% in group 1 and 24.7% in group 2 for non-acetaminophen patients (P = 0.27). Age was not a significant predictor of spontaneous survival in multiple logistic regression analyses. Group 2 patients were listed for liver transplantation significantly less than group 1 patients. Age was listed as a contraindication for transplantation in 5 patients. In conclusion, in contrast to previous studies, we have demonstrated a relatively good spontaneous survival rate for older patients with ALF when it is corrected for etiology. However, overall survival was better for younger non-acetaminophen patients. Fewer older patients were listed for transplantation.
authors.affiliation: Division of Digestive and Liver Diseases, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Frank V
authors.initials: FV
authors.lastname: Schiødt
authors.forename: Raymond T
authors.initials: RT
authors.lastname: Chung
authors.forename: Michael L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Schilsky
authors.forename: J Eileen
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Hay
authors.forename: Erik
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Christensen
authors.forename: William M
authors.initials: WM
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D000082:Acetaminophen / Q000506:poisoning; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D018712:Analgesics, Non-Narcotic / Q000506:poisoning; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D017114:Liver Failure, Acute / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000401:mortality* / Q000601:surgery*; D016031:Liver Transplantation / Q000401:mortality*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D012042:Registries; D016019:Survival Analysis; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D018712:Analgesics, Non-Narcotic; D000082:Acetaminophen