OBJECTIVETo compare the clinical values of the model for end-stage liver disease (MELD)-Na scoring system and the Child-Turcotte-Pugh (CTP) scoring system for predicting the short-term prognosis of acute-on-chronic hepatitis B liver failure.

METHODSA total of 339 patients with acute-on-chronic hepatitis B liver failure and admitted to the Eighth People's Hospital of Guangzhou and Nanfang Hospital of Southern Medical University between January 2010 and December 2012 were included in this retrospective analysis. The short-term predictive values of MELD-Na and CTP scores were compared for this patient population.

RESULTSThe mean MELD-Na score in the advanced stage of liver failure was significantly higher than those in the early and middle stages, respectively (both P less than 0.01). The mean MELD-Na score in the middle stage of liver failure was also significantly higher than that in the early stage (P less than 0.01). In contrast, the mean CTP scores for the three stages of liver failure were not significantly different (all P more than 0.05). The MELD-Na score showed a stronger correlation with the stage of liver failure (rs =0.485, P less than 0.01) than did the CTP score (rs =0.306, P less than 0.01). The short-term mortality rates were significantly different for the three stages of liver failure (P less than 0.01). The mean MELD-Na score of the death group was significantly higher than that of the survival group (P less than 0.01). The CTP scores, however, were not significantly different between the death and survival groups (P more than 0.05).The short-term mortality rate of liver failure was significantly higher for patients with increased scores for the MELD-Na and CTP systems (both P less than 0.01). The areas under the curve of the MELD-Na and CTP scores were 0.813 and 0.823, respectively. The MELD-Na and CTP score have similar predictive values (P more than 0.05).

CONCLUSIONThe MELD-Na scoring system is slightly superior to the CTP scoring system for predicting short-term prognosis of acute-on-chronic hepatitis B liver failure.The predictive value may improve for both the MELD-Na score and the CTP score when combined with expert clinical practice and experience.