Abstract: Objective To investigate the applicability of chronic liver failure consortium organ failure score (CLIF-C OFs) in diagnosing hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF), which was initially proposed by European association for the study of the liver (EASL) for diagnosing alcoholic ACLF.Methods A total of 854 consecutive HBV-related chronic liver disease patients with acute decompensation (AD) from January 2005 to December 2010 in our hospital were enrolled. Patients were divided into ACLF group and non-ACLF group according to CLIF-C OFs, whose clinical data, biochemistry characteristics, disease severity and short-term mortality rate were analyzed, respectively.Results Among the 854 patients, there were 262 in ACLF group and 592 in non-ACLF group. Compared with non-ACLF group, patients in ACLF group were older with higher incidence of liver, renal, cerebral, coagulation, circulatory and respiratory failure, respectively (P<0.01). Moreover, 28-day mortality and 90-day mortality in ACLF group were also higher than that in non-ACLF group (27.1% vs 3.1% and 39.6% vs 4.9%, P<0.01).Conclusion CLIF-C OFs can help distinguish a severe ACLF subgroup with high mortality from HBV-related chronic liver disease patients with AD, which is benefit for clinical management.

Key words: Hepatitis B, Acute decompensation, Acute-on-chronic, Liver failure