Are patients with primary biliary cirrhosis hypermetabolic? A comparison between patients before and after liver transplantation and controls.

Wasting is common in end-stage primary biliary cirrhosis and causes concern in patients facing liver transplantation. We have quantified resting metabolic rate and diet-induced thermogenesis in seven patients with primary biliary cirrhosis, in seven patients after liver transplantation who had previously been diagnosed as having primary biliary cirrhosis and in seven controls. Resting metabolic rate was elevated in the primary biliary cirrhosis group (4.44 +/- 0.81 kJ/hr/kg body wt; mean +/- S.D.) compared with the post-liver-transplantation group (3.39 +/- 0.40 kJ/hr/kg body wt) (p less than 0.005) and compared with control subjects (3.65 +/- 0.23 kJ/hr/kg body wt) (p less than 0.01). A highly significant relationship was found between the severity of liver disease in the primary biliary cirrhosis group, as assessed by Child-Pugh score, and the resting metabolic rate group (r = 0.93; p less than 0.005). After a liquid meal (41 kJ/kg body wt), the metabolic rate increased, with similar peak changes from baseline occurring in all three groups. However, the rise persisted significantly longer in the primary biliary cirrhosis patients, and thus the integrated mean postprandial energy expenditure over the 4-hr postprandial observation period was greater in the primary biliary cirrhosis group than in the other two groups (p less than 0.001).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)