Obesity was associated with more than double the risk of clinical decompensation in patients with compensated cirrhosis, a retrospective analysis of a randomized clinical trial showed. The incidence of decompensation increased in a linear fashion with body mass index (BMI), ranging from 15% for normal-weight individuals to 43% of those who met BMI criteria for obesity (P=0.011). In a multivariate analysis that controlled for known contributors to decompensation, BMI emerged as an independent predictor of decompensation (P=0.02), investigators reported online in Hepatology. The findings have major implications for management of compensated cirrhosis, according to Annalisa Berzigotti, MD, of Hospital Clinic Barcelona in Spain, and her coauthors
