Model for End-Stage Liver Disease score for predicting outcome in critically ill medical patients with liver cirrhosis.
OBJECTIVE
We hypothesized that the Model for End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD) score at admission to the intensive care unit (ICU) can predict in-hospital mortality for patients with liver cirrhosis. We also tested the MELD-natremia (Na) score and compared the predictive value of the 2 models.


METHODS
This is a retrospective cohort study. A total of 441 consecutive patients with liver cirrhosis admitted to the ICU were included. The MELD and MELD-Na scores and other variables were obtained upon patients' admission to the ICU.


RESULTS
The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve to predict in-hospital mortality was 0.77 (95% confidence interval, 0.73-0.82) for the MELD score and 0.77 (95% confidence interval, 0.73-0.81) for the MELD-Na score.


CONCLUSIONS
The MELD scoring system provides useful prognostic information for critically ill patients with liver cirrhosis admitted to an ICU. The MELD and MELD-Na scores had similar predictive value.
Department of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Disorders Medicine, University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky 40202, USA. rcavallazzi@gmail.com
Rodrigo
R
Cavallazzi
Olatilewa O
OO
Awe
Tajender S
TS
Vasu
Amyn
A
Hirani
Urvashi
U
Vaid
Benjamin E
BE
Leiby
Walter K
WK
Kraft
Gregory C
GC
Kane
D016638:Critical Illness / Q000401:mortality*; D005260:Female; D017052:Hospital Mortality; D006801:Humans; D007362:Intensive Care Units / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000401:mortality; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D063305:Organ Dysfunction Scores; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D011379:Prognosis; D012372:ROC Curve; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors