1 INTRODUCTION
Cirrhosis, as an advanced stage of chronic liver disease, and its complications are associated with high morbidity and cause more than 1 million deaths worldwide annually.1Chronic infection with hepatitis B virus (HBV) and alcoholism are the main etiologies.1In 2015, nearly 240 million people globally had HBV infection and there were approximately 0.45 million deaths due to HBV-related cirrhosis and its complications.2 Additionally, the rate of alcohol-related cirrhosis is growing with the rapid increase in alcohol consumption.3 In 2010, nearly 0.5 million deaths worldwide were caused by alcohol-related cirrhosis, which accounted for approximately half of all cirrhosis-related deaths.4
Cirrhotic patients frequently develop complications and those with complications had worse outcomes (including higher mortality) than those without complications.5,6 For example, cirrhotic patients with severe hepatic encephalopathy (HE) had a first-year mortality rate of more than 50%.7,8 Additionally, cirrhotic patients with acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) had a high 28-day mortality rate caused by acute decompensation, organ failure, and/or serious systemic inflammation.9 Furthermore, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), as a major cause of cancer-associated death, has a very poor prognosis and a 5-year survival rate of less than 15%.10
Cirrhosis cases with different etiologies present with different clinical characteristics. 11,12 It is very important to identify the differences in cirrhosis-related complications between different etiologies, which may affect prognosis, in order to guide treatment planning and thereby improve prognosis. Thus, this study aimed to distinguish the cirrhotic complications between patients with HBV- and alcohol-related cirrhosis.