ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Alcoholic liver disease has increased. The causes of death in liver cirrhosis have changed. The author tried to categorize the etiology and complications of liver cirrhosis and analyze the causes of death in the 1990s. METHOD: The author retrospectively reviewed medical records of 1,175 patients diagnosed as having liver cirrhosis at Kyung Hee University Hospital from January 1991 through December 1998. The etiology, complications and the cause of death were compared between the early (1991-1994) and the late (1995-1998) periods. RESULTS: The proportion of male patients (73.3%) was still about 3 times that of female patients. There was no difference in age at the time of diagnosis between early and late periods (51.4 11.1 and 51.2 11.2 years respectively). Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection was still the most common cause of liver cirrhosis (57.0%) and alcohol was the next (31.1%). The complications of liver cirrhosis at the time of diagnosis were, in order: esophageal varices, ascites, and variceal bleeding. But there was no significant difference between the periods. The proportion of Child grade B was the most common at the time of diagnosis in both periods, but Child grade A increased in the late period. The most common cause of death was liver failure and the next cause was variceal bleeding in the early period. Hepatorenal syndrome was the second most common cause in the late period. CONCLUSION: There was no change in the etiology between early and late periods. HBV infection was still the most common etiology but the incidence of alcoholic liver cirrhosis might have increased in the 1990s. The proportion of the Child B at initial diagnosis was the highest (around 50%) but that of Child A increased in the late period. Among the causes of death, liver failure and hepatorenal syndrome had a tendency to increase in the late period.