Thyroid hormone profile is related to prognosis in acute decompensation of cirrhosis.

Objective: To investigate the prognostic significance of thyroid hormone profile in patients hospitalized for decompensated cirrhosis.

Subjects and methods: Prospective cohort study that included 119 subjects. All subjects were evaluated at admission and followed for 90 days. TSH, fT3, fT4 were measured within 24 hours of hospitalization.

Results: Higher fT4 and lower fT3 levels were observed among Child-Pugh C patients as compared to Child-Pugh A and B, and in those with acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF). Lower fT3/fT4 ratio was observed in those with ascites, infections, ACLF, and in Child-Pugh C. Ninety-day mortality was 26.9% and it was independently associated with higher Model for End-stage Liver Disease (MELD) and TSH, and lower fT3/fT4 ratio in multivariate analysis. A new prognostic model including MELD, TSH and fT3/fT4 ratio was devised. The areas under the receiver operating characteristic curves for MELD, fT3/fT4 ratio, TSH (μIU/mL), and the new model for predicting 90-day mortality were 0.847 ± 0.041, 0.841 ± 0.039, 0.658 ± 0.062, and 0.899 ± 0.031, respectively. The 90-day survival was 31.6% in patients with values of the predictive model ≥ -0.77 and 93.5% for values < -0.77 (P < 0.001).

Conclusions: Thyroid hormone profile was strongly associated with worse outcomes in patients with cirrhosis and might represent promising prognostic tools that can be incorporated in clinical practice.