The prevalence of subclinical hepatic encephalopathy in patients with cirrhosis determined by psychometric tests / 中华消化杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the prevalence of subclinical hepatic encephalopathy(SHE) in patients with cirrhosis. Methods One hundred and seventy five consecutive cirrhotic patients(mean age 53 years, range 27～72) without any overt clinical encephalopathy were screened for SHE using number connection test A(NCT A) and symbol digit test(SDT) with age corrected normal value, which have been developed in 356 persons without liver disease and are defined as the mean?2 standard deviation. Results Fifty patients(28.6%) were abnormal in both NCT A and SDT, 16(9.1%) were abnormal only in SDT and 34(19.4%) only in NCT A. Taken together, two tests diagnosed SHE in 100 patients(57.1%). The prevalence of SHE increased from 46.8% and 53.0% in Child Pugh grade A and B, to 76.6% in Child Pugh grade C. Conclusions SHE was found in 57.1% of cirrhotic patients without overt clinical encephalopathy, which was linked to the severity of liver cirrhosis.