Hyponatremia influences the outcome of patients with acute-on-chronic liver failure: an analysis of the CANONIC study

INTRODUCTION: Hyponatremia is a marker of poor prognosis in patients with cirrhosis. This analysis aimed to assess if hyponatremia also has prognostic value in patients with acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF), a syndrome characterized by acute decompensation of cirrhosis, organ failure(s) and high short-term mortality. METHODS: We performed an analysis of the Chronic Liver Failure Consortium CANONIC database in 1,341 consecutive patients admitted to 29 European centers with acute decompensation of cirrhosis (including ascites, gastrointestinal bleeding, hepatic encephalopathy, or bacterial infections, or any combination of these), both with and without associated ACLF (301 and 1,040 respectively). RESULTS: Of the 301 patients with ACLF, 24.3% had hyponatremia at inclusion compared to 12.3% of 1,040 patients without ACLF (P