D-dimer is a prognostic marker for 1-year mortality in patients with chronic liver failure and hepatic encephalopathy.

Background and aim: Hepatic encephalopathy (HE) is a neuropsychiatric complication of liver failure with poor outcomes. The present study aimed to evaluate the predictive values of D-dimer in patients with HE.

Materials and methods: Patients with chronic liver failure (CLF) and HE were enrolled. Univariate and multivariate logistic analysis was performed to investigate the risk factors for 1-year mortality of HE.

Results: During the first year after diagnosis, 39.2% (65/166) of the patients died. D-dimer was significantly higher in non-survivors (Z=2.617, p<0.01). Both D-dimer and international normalized ratio (INR) positively correlated with Child-Pugh and MELD scores, and negatively correlated with sodium (all p<0.01). Moreover, there was a negative relationship between D-dimer and HE grades (r=-0.168, p=0.031), while the relationship between INR and HE grades was not significant (r=0.083, p=0.289). Multivariate analysis showed that age (odds ratio (OR):1.035, 95% CI:1.004-1.067, p=0.03), D-dimer (OR=1.138, 95% CI:1.030-1.258, p=0.01), ALT (OR=1.012, 95% CI:1.001-1.022, p=0.03), and sodium (OR=0.920, 95% CI:0.858-0.986, p=0.02) were independent risk factors for 1-year mortality. Then, a new model Model(Age_DD_ALT_Na) incorporating age, D-dimer, ALT, and sodium was developed. AUROC of Model(Age_DD_ALT_Na) was 0.732, which was significantly higher than MELD and Child-Pugh scores (AUROC: 0.602 and 0.599, p=0.013 and 0.022).

Conclusion: D-dimer is a prognostic marker for 1-year mortality in patients with CLF and HE.