Albumin-bilirubin score for predicting the in-hospital mortality of variceal bleeding in children with liver cirrhosis

Abstract

To compare the prognostic value of ALBI score, an alternative predictor of mortality in cirrhotic adults, with Child-Pugh and PELD scores in cirrhotic children with variceal bleeding. We analyzed the patients’ data using MedCalc software, and calculated area under the curves (AUC) of receiving-operator characteristic (ROC). All scores were higher in expired compared to survived patients (p<0.001). The AUC values for predicting mortality in all patients were ⁓0.879±0.04 for Child-Pugh and PELD scores and 0.733±0.06 for ALBI. The prognostic values in two subgroups of biliary atresia (BA) and those with other underlying diseases(non-BA) showed that in BA group, ALBI score with AUC of 0.607±0.102, p<0.29, had no significant difference between survived and non-survived patients. ALBI in non-BA group, with AUC of 0.863±0.063 showed closer value to other scores (⁓0.954), and was differed between survived and non-survived groups (p<0.001), suggesting that ALBI might be useful in predicting mortality in non-BA patients.