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The metabolic syndrome is not correlated with the short-term risk of decompensation in patients with cirrhosis.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS
Obesity proved to favor clinical decompensation in patients with cirrhosis. Our aim was to investigate if metabolic syndrome (MS) in cirrhotic patients represents a risk factor for decompensation.


METHODS
704 cirrhotics, included in a MS prevalence study were considered for evaluation; 121 patients were excluded because they did not complete the follow-up and 303 because they were decompensated at the start of the study. The remaining 280 were followed-up for a median period of 28.1+/-18 months. Patients were censored at the end of follow-up or at occurrence of a liver related event (LRE). Liver related events were considered the following: decompensation (ascites, variceal bleeding, hepatorenal syndrome, jaundice, encephalopathy), hepatocellular carcinoma, portal vein thrombosis and infections.


RESULTS
All MS criteria except the abdominal circumference were significantly different between decompensated and compensated patients. HDL-cholesterol levels were lower in decompensated patients. Among the 280 patients who completed the follow-up, 85 (30%) presented LREs. Ascites was the most frequent event. In the univariate analysis of the MS criteria we found a trend to significance of an inverse correlation between MS and LREs. There was no significant difference between patients with or without MS regarding survival free of LREs, 76.7% and 66.5%, respectively. None of the MS criteria reached the level of significance in discriminating patients with and without LREs.


CONCLUSIONS
In short term, presence of MS was not a risk factor for LREs. In short term, liver function and lower nutritional status influenced the prognosis. In decompensated patients, the MS defining criteria are not applicable.