Abstract: Objective This study aimed to investigate sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA) and model for end-stage liver disease-sodium (MELD-Na⁺) in predicting prognosis of patients with liver cirrhosis (LC) complicated by sepsis. Methods A total of 236 patients with sepsis with underlying LC were admitted to our hospital between January 2022 and June 2024, and routine clinical materials were collected for calculating SOFA and MELD-Na⁺ scores. Multivariate Logistic regression analysis was applied to reveal impacting factors, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was drawn for assessing predicting efficacy. Results By end of 28 day observation, 94 patients (39.8%) died in our series; incidences of esophageal variceal bleeding and hepatic encephalopathy, serum bilirubin, Cr, INR, SOFA score and MELD-Na⁺ score at baseline in dead group were 43.6%, 33.0%, (82.7±40.9)μmol/L, (122.4±40.4)μmol/L, (2.1±0.5), (9.7±3.2) and (32.1±7.8), all much higher than [26.1%, 16.2%, (71.5±30.2)μmol/L, (95.6±38.8)μmol/L, (1.8±0.4), (6.5±2.6) and (24.0±5.8), respectively, P<0.05], while PaO₂/FiO₂, mean arterial pressure, Glasgow coma scale and serum Na⁺ level were (259.8±45.6) mmHg, (70.2±15.5) mmHg, (12.3±2.4) and (128.5±26.2 )mmol/L, all much lower than [(274.5±50.2) mmHg, (83.5±11.8) mmHg, (13.3±2.1) and (136.8±24.5)mmol/L, respectively, P<0.05] in survival group; Logistic analysis showed that SOFA and MELD-Na⁺ scores were both the independent risk factors for poor prognosis in this setting(P<0.05); combination of SOFA score and MELD-Na⁺ score had a satisfactory predicting performance in patients with LC and sepsis. Conclusion SOFA score in combination with MELD-Na⁺ score could be used as potential indicators for predicting the prognosis of patients with cirrhosis complicated with sepsis, which might provide a tool for early intervention.

Key words: Liver cirrhosis, Sepsis, Sequential organ failure assessment score, Model for end-stage liver disease-sodium, Prognosis, Diagnosis