Abstract
The phase angle is a versatile measurement to assess body composition, frailty and prognosis in patients with chronic diseases. In cirrhosis, patients often present alterations in body composition that are related to adverse outcomes. The phase angle could be useful to evaluate prognosis in these patients, but data are scarce. The aim was to analyse the prognostic value of the phase angle to predict clinically relevant events such as hospitalisation, falls, and mortality in patients with cirrhosis. Outpatients with cirrhosis were consecutively included and the phase angle was determined by electrical bioimpedance. Patients were prospectively followed to determine the incidence of hospitalisations, falls, and mortality. One hundred patients were included. Patients with phase angle ≤ 4.6° (n = 31) showed a higher probability of hospitalisation (35% vs 11%, p = 0.003), falls (41% vs 11%, p = 0.001) and mortality (26% vs 3%, p = 0.001) at 2-year follow-up than patients with PA > 4.6° (n = 69). In the multivariable analysis, the phase angle and MELD-Na were independent predictive factors of hospitalisation and mortality. Phase angle was the only predictive factor for falls. In conclusion, the phase angle showed to be a predictive marker for hospitalisation, falls, and mortality in outpatients with cirrhosis.
Highlights
The phase angle is a versatile measurement to assess body composition, frailty and prognosis in patients with chronic diseases
Frailty in patients with cirrhosis is understood as a condition of weakness or lability due to physical and psychological deterioration related to the progression of the disease, the development of complications, and associated c omorbidities[1,2,5,6]
In addition to the adverse outcomes, other findings related to the frailty syndrome that are often present in patients with cirrhosis are functional and cognitive deterioration, impairment in health-related quality of life, immune system disturbances, and alterations in body composition[2,5,7,8,9,10,11]
Summary
The phase angle is a versatile measurement to assess body composition, frailty and prognosis in patients with chronic diseases. Patients often present alterations in body composition that are related to adverse outcomes. The aim was to analyse the prognostic value of the phase angle to predict clinically relevant events such as hospitalisation, falls, and mortality in patients with cirrhosis. The phase angle showed to be a predictive marker for hospitalisation, falls, and mortality in outpatients with cirrhosis. Patients with cirrhosis frequently present alterations in body composition related to frailty and prognosis, such as sarcopenia or decreased muscle mass and/or function, decreased bone mass, and excess water and fat[12,13,14,15]. Its usefulness as a prognostic factor to predict encephalopathy episodes and mortality in patients with cirrhosis has been demonstrated in previous studies[11,14,19,24]
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