Clinical features and survivial of cirrhotic patients with subclinical cognitive alterations detected by the number connection test and computerized psychometric tests

The prevalence and the clinical implications of subclinical cognitive alter ations in cirrhotic patients have not been well defined as yet. Therefore, we performed a study to assess the clinical features and the survival of ci rrhotic patients,vith cognitive alterations detected by the number connecti on test (NCT) and a set of computerized psychometric tests (Scan, Choice1, and Choice2) measuring the reaction times and the percentage of errors in p erforming specific tasks. Ninety-four cirrhotic patients (aged 58 +/- 9 yea rs) without overt hepatic encephalopathy and 80 controls (aged 53 +/- 15 ye ars) were consecutively enrolled. The median follow-up in cirrhotic patient s was 426 days (lower quartile = 213 days; upper quartile = 718 days). Resu lts of the NCT Scan test, and Choice2 test were significantly worse in cirr hotic patients, whereas Choice1 did not differ significantly from the contr ols. In cirrhotic patients, the prevalence of altered psychometric tests wa s 21% (CI95% = 14%-31%) by NCT, 23% (CI95% = 15%-33%) by Scan test, and 20% (CI95% = 16%-30%) by Choice2 test. The alterations of NCT, Scan, and Choic e2 were found to be related to the severity of liver disease, independently of its etiology. Increased risk of death was found to be associated with a ltered Scan test (hazard ratio = 2.4; CI95% = 1.1-5.3), or altered Choice2 test (hazard ratio = 2.8; CI95% = 1.2-6.3). Multivariate regression showed that Scan and Choice2, tests had prognostic value on survival, in addition to Child-Pugh classes in the first year of follow-up.