Clinical features and risk factors of acute hepatitis E with severe jaundice / 临床肝胆病杂志

ABSTRACT

ObjectiveTo investigate the clinical features of acute hepatitis E (AHE) patients with or without severe jaundice and the risk factors for severe jaundice. MethodsA retrospective analysis was performed for the clinical data of 179 AHE patients who were admitted to Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center Affiliated to Fudan University from January 1, 2018 to March 26, 2020. According to whether total bilirubin (TBil) was ＞171 μmol/L, the patients were divided into AHE-mild jaundice (AHE-M) group and AHE-severe jaundice (AHE-S) group, and the two groups were compared in terms of clinical data and laboratory markers. The t test or the Mann-Whitney U test or the chi-squared test was used for comparison, and a binary logistic regression analysis was used to identify independent risk factors. ResultsOf all 179 patients, 101 (56.42%) were found to have severe jaundice. Compared with the AHE-M group, the AHE-S group had a significantly higher proportion of male patients (80.20% vs 61.54%, χ2=7.612, P=0.006), a significantly longer length of hospital stay ［29 (19-45) days vs 18 (14-22) days, Z=-6.035, P＜0.001］, a significantly higher number of patients with liver failure (23 vs 0, χ2=18.373, P＜0.001), and a significantly poorer prognosis (P＜0.001). Compared with the AHE-M group, the AHE-S group had significantly higher baseline anti-HEV-IgM, alpha-fetoprotein, and liver elasticity (Z=-3.534, -3.588, and -4.496, all P＜0.001), significantly lower baseline CD4 (Z=-2.015, P＜0.05), significantly higher peak values of TBil, direct bilirubin, creatinine, prothrombin time, international normalized ratio, and absolute neutrophil count (Z=-11.016, -10.926, -2.726, -4.787, -4.989, and -6.016, all P＜0.01), a significantly lower peak value of gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT) (Z=-4.55, P＜0001), and significantly lower valley values of albumin, prealbumin (PA), and absolute lymphocyte count (Z=-4.685, -5.087, and -4.818, all P＜0.001). The logistic regression analysis showed that anti-HEV-IgM (odds ratio ［OR］=1.022, 95% confidence interval ［CI］ 1005-1.039, P=0.012), GGT (OR=0.995, 95%CI 0.993-0.998, P=0.001), PA (OR=0.991, 95%CI 0.983-0.999, P=0.02), and neutrophils (OR=1.486, 95%CI 1.169-1.889, P=0.001) were independent risk factors for severe jaundice in AHE patients. ConclusionThere is a relatively high proportion of male patients among the AHE patients with severe jaundice, with a long length of hospital stay, a large number of patients with liver failure, and poor prognosis. Anti-HEV-IgM, GGT, PA, and neutrophils are independent risk factors for severe jaundice in AHE patients.