NASH Is the Most Rapidly Growing Etiology for Acute‐on‐Chronic Liver Failure‐Related Hospitalization and Disease Burden in the United States: A Population‐Based Study

Acute‐on‐chronic liver failure (ACLF) is characterized by multiple organ failure (OF) with high short‐term mortality. There is lack of population‐based data on trends on etiology specific ACLF related burden. National Inpatient Sample (2006‐2014) was queried using ICD‐09 codes for admissions with cirrhosis and ACLF (≥2 extrahepatic OF). Of 1,928,764 admissions for cirrhosis between 2006 and 2014, 112,174 (5.9%) had ACLF (4.5%, 1.2%, and 0.2% with ACLF 1, 2, and 3, respectively). The brain was the most common OF in 11.9%, followed by respiratory failure in 7.7%, cardiac failure in 6.3%, and renal failure in 5.6%. ACLF increased by 24% between 2006 and 2014 with a 63% increase in 179,104 patients with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) cirrhosis (3.5% to 5.7%); a 28% increase in patients with 429,306 alcoholic cirrhosis (5.6% to 7.2%); a 25% increase in patients with 1,091,053 with other etiologies (5.2% to 6.5%); and no significant change in 229,301 patients with viral hepatitis (VH) (4.0% to 4.1%). In‐hospital mortality was higher among ACLF patients compared with patients without ACLF (44% versus 4.7%; P