Controlling nutritional status score as a new indicator of overt hepatic encephalopathy in cirrhotic patients following transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: The Controlling Nutritional Status (CONUT) score is designed to assess the immune-nutritional status of patients. Poor nutritional status and inflammation may facilitate the development of hepatic encephalopathy (HE) in cirrhotic patients. However, it remains unknown whether the CONUT score is related to and can be used as a predictive marker for HE. The aim of this study was to investigate the association and predictive value of the CONUT score for overt hepatic encephalopathy (OHE) in cirrhotic patients following transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS).

METHODS: A retrospective study of 77 patients with cirrhosis having undergone TIPS was performed at The First Hospital of Shanxi Medical University. Relevant patient data were collected from the medical records, and logistics regression analyses were performed to estimate the association between CONUT score and OHE. Restricted cubic spline models were further used to examine the shapes of the dose-response association. The area under curve (AUC) represented the test discriminative power of CONUT score and relevant clinical parameters. The Kaplan-Meier curve was used to compare the patient risk of OHE according to the cut-off CONUT score.

RESULTS: During a median follow-up of 13 months, 41 patients (53.2%) experienced OHE events. The optimal cut-off value for the CONUT score of OHE was 5, with sensitivity and specificity values of 0.927 and 0.528, respectively (AUC = 0.815). The predictive power of CONUT score was higher than that of neutrophil lymphocyte ratio (NLR), Model for End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD) score, and Child-Pugh score based on time-dependent receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. The high CONUT group (CONUT score ≥ 5) had significantly higher OHE prevalence (P < 0.001) than the low CONUT group (CONUT score < 5). The CONUT score was an independent predictor of OHE following TIPS (Odds Ratio (OR) = 7.3; 95% CI: 2.1-25.6; P = 0.002). Restricted cubic spline models showed that with an increasing CONUT score, the ln-transformed OR of OHE risk followed an increasing trend (P for overall association < 0.05). Meanwhile, logistic regression analysis with step method showed that history of OHE, blood ammonia, CONUT score, international normalised ratio (INR) and bilirubin were independent predictors of OHE following TIPS.

CONCLUSION: To our knowledge, this is the first study demonstrating that the CONUT score was directly correlated with OHE risk, and could serve as a reliable prognostic marker of OHE risk in cirrhotic patients following TIPS. The results suggest it could be beneficial in the evaluation and management of OHE.