The burden of extrahepatic organ failures in European patients with cirrhosis

The impact of acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF), a deadly form of decompensated cirrhosis characterized by the presence of organ failures, has not been well characterized, largely due to the lack of a code for ACLF in the International Classification of Diseases (ICD). We used ICD codes for extrahepatic organ failure to assess the burden of cirrhosis with extrahepatic organ failures (EHOFs) on European health care systems.

The authors have searched national healthcare system databases from Germany for the period 2005-2020 and matched the data with that from France, Italy, and Denmark for admissions between 2017 and 2020, specifically for cases with an ICD diagnosis of cirrhosis combined with kidney, brain, respiratory, or circulatory failure.

During the 4-year period, 1,599,680 hospital admissions for cirrhosis, which included 329,093 (20.6%) admissions with at least 1 EHOF, were recorded across the 4 countries. The most frequent failing organs were kidneys (52.9%) and respiration (41.2%). The annual number of admissions for cirrhosis decreased over time (from 414,093 to 375,112), whereas the percentage of admissions with EHOF rose from 19.9% to 21.5%. Overall, the in-hospital mortality rate of patients with a diagnosis of EHOF was high (29.2%), markedly exceeding the mortality of those with a diagnosis of cirrhosis (7.9%). The proportion of estimated total healthcare claims of all hospital admissions of EHOF from cirrhosis was 44.9%.

This study reveals that the burden of cirrhosis with EHOF was high in the 4 European countries, with a substantial impact on patient mortality. Crucially, these findings underscore the significant economic strain placed on healthcare systems by EHOF in cirrhosis patients. This should motivate all stakeholders to take action aiming at reducing this burden.