[Clinical and epidemiological features of hepatic cirrhosis. Analysis of 200 patients]

We have evaluated the clinical and epidemiological features of hepatic cirrhosis in a retrospective study of 200 patients admitted to our Area Hospital from 1984 to 1987. 77% of patients were 40-69 years old and 74% were males, with a M/F ratio of 2.84. 56% were caused by high alcohol intake, 25% were cryptogenic and 13% post-hepatitis. 29.2% were diagnosed in a compensated stage of the disease. 52.2% presented with ascites, and 30.5% with upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage. We found superimposed hepatocellular carcinoma in 4.5% of patients, all of them males, with a mean age of 63.5 years. 18% died during their hospital admission, 50% from hepatic coma, 19.4% from hypovolemic shock and 16.6% from hepatorenal syndrome. Survival from the time of diagnosis in the patients who died was shorter than one year in 41.5%.