Clinical Profile Of Infections In Cirrhotic Patients- One Year Hospital Based Cross - Sectional Study

Abstract

Introduction: Considering the rapidly changing profile of infections in liver cirrhosis patients periodic studies documenting the etiological profile of organisms in these patients are extremely vital in this regard. Objective of the study: To study the incidence and clinical profile of infections in cirrhotic patients. Materials and methods: The current study was a prospective observational study conducted in the department of General medicine, KLES Dr. Prabhakar Kore Hospital, Belgaum between 1st January June 2015 to June 2016, for a period of 1 year. The study has included 100 patients admitted in the wards and ICU with decompensated cirrhosis of liver. The profile of infection was assesed using culture and sensitivity of various body fluids including ascitic fluid, urine and blood. The analysis was done by mean and standard deviation for quantitative varibales, frequerncy and proportion fro categorical variables using IBM SPSS statistical software version 21. Results: The mean age of study population was 52.85 ± 9.49 with high male preponderance (75%) in study populations. The proportion of participants with HCV positivity was 22% and HBsAg positivity was seen in 32% of the study population. The other common etiology of cirrhosis was alcoholism in 53% of the study population. Ascitic fluid culture was positive in 48% of the subjects, with E. coli being the most common organism (26%). The urine culture was positive in 16% of the subjects with E. coli (12%) as the common organism. Blood culture was positive in 39% of the subjects, with Klebsiella Pneumoniae (15%) as most common organism. The most common infection was SBP in 53%, followed by UTI in 16%, pneumonia in 26% and cellulitis in 5% of the subjects. Conclusion: Infection is very common in liver cirrhosis patients. Liver cirrhosis patients are susceptible to wide range of infections ranging from spontaneous bacterial peritonitis, urinary tract infections and sepsis. The profile of organisms is also quite varied in these patients