{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,9]],"date-time":"2026-06-09T00:48:46Z","timestamp":1780966126666,"version":"3.54.1"},"reference-count":39,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"6","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,6,24]],"date-time":"2021-06-24T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1624492800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosone.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS ONE"],"abstract":"<jats:sec id=\"sec001\">\n<jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>Chronic liver diseases including liver cirrhosis are a major cause of morbidity and mortality globally. Despite the high burden of liver cirrhosis in Ghana, data on this disease is lacking.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec id=\"sec002\">\n<jats:title>Objective<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>To determine the sociodemographic characteristics, reasons for admission, and in-hospital mortality of patients with cirrhosis of the liver seen at a district hospital in Ghana.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec id=\"sec003\">\n<jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>A prospective study was conducted involving one hundred and eighty-six (186) patients admitted on the medical wards in St. Dominic hospital with liver cirrhosis from 1st January 2018 to 24th June 2020. The patient\u2019s demographic and clinical features were documented using a standardized questionnaire. Diagnostic biochemical and haematological tests as well as abdominal ultrasound scans were performed for all patients. They were followed up until death or discharge from hospital.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec id=\"sec004\">\n<jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>One hundred and eighty-six patients (186) with a median age of 46 years were included in the study. HBV was the main etiology of liver cirrhosis (38.7%) followed closely by alcohol consumption (38.3%). In-hospital mortality was 41.3% and the most frequent cause of death was hepatic encephalopathy (68.4%). The following were associated with death; Jaundice, weight loss, elevated bilirubin, international normalized ratio (INR), creatinine, blood urea nitrogen(BUN), Child-Pugh score, model for end-stage liver disease sodium score (MELDNa), and low sodium. However, hepatic encephalopathy, MELDNa, INR and BUN were independent predictors of in-hospital mortality on logistic regression analysis.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec id=\"sec005\">\n<jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>In-hospital mortality in cirrhotic patients was high with the leading cause of death being hepatic encephalopathy. Timely diagnosis and adequate management of hepatic encephalopathy are necessary to prevent death from liver cirrhosis.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0253759","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,6,24]],"date-time":"2021-06-24T17:40:37Z","timestamp":1624556437000},"page":"e0253759","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":13,"title":["Sociodemographic characteristics, complications requiring hospital admission and causes of in-hospital death in patients with liver cirrhosis admitted at a district hospital in Ghana"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"16","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8104-7393","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Amoako","family":"Duah","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Adwoa","family":"Agyei-Nkansah","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Foster","family":"Osei-Poku","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Francisca","family":"Duah","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Bright Peprah","family":"Addo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,6,24]]},"reference":[{"issue":"10159","key":"pone.0253759.ref001","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1736","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(18)32203-7","article-title":"Global, regional, and national age-sex-specific mortality for 282 causes of death in 195 countries and territories, 1980\u20132017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017.","volume":"392","author":"GA Roth","year":"2018","journal-title":"Lancet"},{"issue":"5","key":"pone.0253759.ref002","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"395","DOI":"10.1136\/jcp.31.5.395","article-title":"The morphology of cirrhosis. 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