Predicting Mortality in Patients with Drug-Induced Liver Injury: Accounting for Comorbidities

Limited evidence suggests that comorbidities might increase mortality risk in patients with drug-induced liver injury (DILI), perhaps even in relatively mild episodes.

Using prospectively collected data on 306 patients with suspected DILI in the U.S., researchers examined whether comorbidity burden, as well as other variables, were associated with 6-month mortality. After identifying all independent variables that predicted 6-month mortality, they built a model and validated it in a separate cohort of 247 patients from the same study. Medical comorbidity was assessed using the Charlson comorbidity index.

In the cohort used to derive the model, 48% of patients were men, mean age was 49 years, the most common comorbidities were diabetes and pul…