title: PSYCHOMETRIC HEPATIC ENCEPHALOPATHY SCORE FOR THE DIAGNOSIS OF MINIMAL HEPATIC ENCEPHALOPATHY IN ROMANIAN CIRRHOTIC PATIENTS--PARTIAL RESULTS.
abstract: In Romania, minimal hepatic encephalopathy (MHE) is underdiagnosed and undertreated in patients with liver cirrhosis. The psychometric hepatic encephalopathy score (PHES) is recommended as the first-line tool for the diagnosis of MHE.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To use PHES in a group of Romanian cirrhotic patients and highlight the relationships between demographic and biological factors and tests results.
  
  
  METHODS
  Of the 148 patients with liver cirrhosis admitted to the Iaşi Institute of Gastroenterology and Hepatology between August 2014 and February 2015 only 80 who met the eligibility criteria were enrolled and completed the study. Blood samples for routine tests and serum ammonia were collected from all patients on the day of PHES evaluation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In the study group (n = 80) mean age was 57.7 ± 8.5 years, and the average number of years of education was 11.2 ± 2.7. The main causes of cirrhosis were alcohol consumption (31 patients--38.8%), hepatitis C virus infection (29 patients--36.3%) and hepatitis B virus infection (17 patients--21.3%). Age, number of years of education, severity of liver disease (measured by using Child-Pugh and MELD scores) and some biological constants (albumin, bilirubin, International Normalized Ratio-INR) were significantly correlated (p < 0.05) with most psychometric tests.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  PHES is a practical, objective and useful method for the diagnosis of MHE. Demographic and biological factors correlated with the results of the psychometric test. The PHES requires standardization before applying it in Romanian cirrhotic patients.
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Badea
authors.forename: Cristina Cijevschi
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Prelipcean
authors.forename: Catalina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mihai
authors.forename: Iolanda
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Popa
authors.forename: V L
authors.initials: VL
authors.lastname: Drug
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006501:Hepatic Encephalopathy / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D018836:Inflammation Mediators / Q000097:blood; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012383:Romania / Q000453:epidemiology; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012720:Severity of Illness Index
chemical_list: D018836:Inflammation Mediators