Broad categories and data elements collected in the Chinese Acute-on-Chronic Liver Failure validation cohort study
| Broad categories | Data elements |
| Demographic data | Age, sex, ethnicity, identity number, postal code, address, mobile number, education status and insurance status |
| Medical history | Aetiology and duration of chronic liver disease, type of present and/or previous acute decompensation or acute liver injury, possible predisposition (HBV reactivation, infection, recent alcohol intake, etc) and history of other chronic disease (hypertension, diabetes, etc) |
| Basic and vital signs | Height, weight, body mass index, temperature, heart rate, blood pressure and oxygen saturation (read from pulse oximeters) |
| Laboratory tests | Routine blood test (HGB, WBC, PLT count and neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio), liver function (ALT, AST, TB, AKP, γ-GT, albumin, prealbumin), renal function test (creatinine, BUN), blood-gas analysis and electrolytes (pH, sodium, potassium), coagulation series (prothrombin time, INR, D-dimer), others (blood ammonia, C reactive protein, procalcitonin, AFP, CA199, fasting blood glucose) |
| Hepatitis virus tests | HBV (HBV-DNA, HBsAg, HBsAb, HBeAg, HBeAb, HBcAb), HCV, HAV and HEV antibodies (IgM) |
| Optional laboratory tests (if necessary） | Thromboelastogram, cytokine, serum amyloid A, serum ferritin; ascites test (if patients take paracentesis): RBC count, WBC, count and proportion of polynuclear cell; autoimmune liver disease test; evaluation of Bacterial infection (sputum, blood, midstream urine, ascites, bile culture) |
| Imaging examination | Abdominal B ultrasound, abdominal CT/MRI scan, fibro-scan |
| Organ failure assessment | Liver, coagulation, respiratory, renal, brain, circulation failure |
| Hospitalisation summary | Medication (starting and ending times and dosage of antibiotics, glucocorticoids and proton pump inhibitor), hospitalisation duration and expenses |
| Status/outcome | Survival, liver transplantation (LT), death, lost to follow-up, re-hospitalised, malignancy detected, including the time of outcome, pathology results of the removed liver (for LT) or cause of death |
AFP, alpha-fetoprotein; AKP, alkaline phosphatase; BUN, blood urea nitrogen; CA199, carbohydrate antigen; γ-GT, gamma-glutamyl transferase; HAV, hepatitis A virus; HBV, hepatitis B virus; HCV, hepatitis C virus; HEV, hepatitis E virus; HGB, haemoglobin; INR, international normalised ratio; PLT, platelet; RBC, red blood cell; WBC, white cell count.