Rifaximin-α use is associated with improved muscle mass in patients with cirrhosis

Table 1 Descriptive variables

Characteristic	Overall, n = 1421	Lactulose alone, n = 791	Rifaximin-α-α, n = 631	P value2
Follow-up skeletal muscle area (cm2)	160 (137, 178)	159 (137, 174)	162 (134, 190)	0.3
Baseline skeletal muscle area (cm2)	159 (139, 179)	158 (145, 177)	160 (131, 186)	> 0.9
Gender				0.050
Female	38 (27)	16 (20)	22 (35)
Male	104 (73)	63 (80)	41 (65)
Age (years)	56 (51, 61)	55 (51, 60)	57 (51, 62)	0.4
Viral hepatitis	71 (50)	44 (56)	27 (44)	0.2
Alcohol	46 (33)	33 (42)	13 (21)	0.009
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease	25 (18)	15 (19)	10 (16)	0.7
Other	37 (26)	15 (19)	22 (35)	0.027
HCV eradication occurred during follow up				0.3
No	138 (97)	78 (99)	60 (95)
Yes	4 (2.8)	1 (1.3)	3 (4.8)
Hepatocellular carcinoma				> 0.9
No	75 (53)	42 (53)	33 (53)
Yes	66 (47)	37 (47)	29 (47)
MELD score	16 (12, 19)	15 (12, 18)	16 (13, 19)	0.3
Ascites				> 0.9
None	44 (31)	24 (30)	20 (33)
Diuretic-controlled	39 (28)	23 (29)	16 (26)
Paracentesis	57 (41)	32 (41)	25 (41)
Charlson co-morbidity score	5.00 (4.00, 6.00)	5.00 (4.00, 6.00)	5.00 (4.00, 6.00)	0.3
Baseline height (cm)	173 (166, 178)	173 (166, 179)	172 (165, 178)	0.5
Baseline weight (kg)	81 (72, 92)	84 (73, 94)	80 (70, 90)	0.2
Baseline BMI (kg/m2)	27.8 (24.1, 31.1)	28.0 (24.2, 30.9)	26.8 (24.0, 31.2)	0.8
Testosterone therapy during follow up				> 0.9
No	118 (94)	71 (93)	47 (94)
Yes	8 (6.3)	5 (6.6)	3 (6.0)
Duration of therapy before follow up SMA (days)	161 (101, 267)	150 (87, 227)	179 (111, 301)	0.3
Days between scans	218 (172, 296)	227 (173, 343)	216 (174, 271)	0.5

¹Median (IQR) or n (%).

²Wilcoxon rank sum test; Pearson’s χ² test; Fisher’s exact test.

HCV: Hepatitis C virus; MELD: Model of end-stage liver disease; BMI: Body mass index; SMA: Skeletal muscle area.