Critical care outcomes in decompensated cirrhosis: a United States national inpatient sample cross-sectional study

Prior assessments of critical care outcomes in patients with cirrhosis have shown conflicting results. We aimed to provide nationwide generalizable results of critical care outcomes in patients with decompensated cirrhosis. This is a retrospective study using the National Inpatient Sample from 2016 to 2019. Adults with cirrhosis who required respiratory intubation, central venous catheter placement or both (n = 12,945) with principal diagnoses including: esophageal variceal hemorrhage (EVH, 24%), hepatic encephalopathy (58%), hepatorenal syndrome (HRS, 14%) or spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (4%) were included. A comparison cohort of patients without cirrhosis requiring intubation or central line placement for any principal diagnosis was included. Those with cirrhosis were younger (mean 58 vs. 63 years, p