Importance of the poor prognosis of severe and fulminant hepatitis in the elderly in an era of a highly aging society: Analysis in a Japanese center.

Abstract

Older age has been widely believed to be associated with a poor prognosis of acute liver failure. We aimed to evaluate the impact of older age on outcomes of Japanese patients with severe and fulminant hepatitis in an era of a highly aging society. We investigated 105 consecutive adult patients with fulminant hepatitis (FH) or severe hepatitis (SH) admitted to our liver unit between 2000 and 2013, consisting of 14 elderly patients (≥65 years) and 91 younger ones (<65 years). In elderly patients, the proportion of women was greater (P < 0.001), the levels of aspartate aminotransferase and lactate dehydrogenase on admission were lower (P = 0.011 and P = 0.010, respectively), and the survival rate without liver transplantation was lower (P = 0.024) than younger ones. Two of seven SH and all seven FH elderly patients died, whereas all 45 SH and 16 of 46 FH younger patients recovered. Seventy-one percent of elderly patients had underlying diseases with medications, and 57% had additional complications after the start of treatment for acute liver failure. Patients aged 70 years or more showed even poorer prognoses than younger ones and those aged 65-69 years (P = 0.0052 and P = 0.036, respectively). Older age was associated with a poor prognosis of patients with SH and FH. One of the reasons other than complications and loss of organ reserve by aging would be that elderly patients consulted us at a more advanced stage of illness than younger ones.