Sörös P, Böttcher J, Weissenborn K, Selberg O, Müller MJ. Malnutrition and hypermetabolism are not risk factors for the presence of hepatic encephalopathy: a cross-sectional study. Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology 2008;23:606-610 PubMed Abstract
Aim: We tested the hypothesis that reduced nutritional status or the degree of tissue catabolism are associated with the presence of hepatic encephalopathy in 223 patients with histologically confirmed non-alcoholic cirrhosis.
Results: Nutritional status and tissue catabolism were not significantly different between patients with and without hepatic encephalopathy.
Conclusions: Our data do not support the hypothesis that malnutrition or tissue catabolism are independent risk factors for the presence of hepatic encephalopathy in patients with non-alcoholic cirrhosis.