Influence of subcutaneous adipose tissue index on prognosis in cirrhotic patients following endoscopic therapy: a retrospective cohort study

Background The relation of adipose tissue depletion with prognostic outcome of variceal bleeding among cirrhotic patients is still inconclusive. The present work explored whether adipose tissue, which was measured based on computed tomography (CT), was valuable for analyzing rebleeding and mortality among patients with variceal bleeding who had undergone endoscopic therapy. Methods The study encompassed cirrhotic patients who underwent endoscopic therapy to prevent variceal rebleeding between January 2016 and October 2022. The L3-level CT images were obtained. Besides, impacts of subcutaneous adipose tissue index (SATI), visceral adipose tissue index (VATI), as well as total adipose tissue index (TATI) on rebleeding and mortality among cirrhotic patients following endoscopic therapy were examined. Results In this work, our median follow-up period was 31 months. Among those adipose tissue indexes, only SATI exhibited an independent relation to higher rebleeding (HR 0.981, 95% CI, 0.971–0.991, p < 0.001) and mortality (HR 0.965, 95% CI, 0.944–0.986, p = 0.001) risks. Upon multivariate Cox regression, low SATI (male < 30.15 cm 2 /m 2 , female < 39.82 cm 2 /m 2 ) was independently linked to higher rebleeding risk (HR 2.511, 95% CI, 1.604–3.932, p < 0.001) and increased mortality risk (HR 3.422, 95% CI, 1.489–7.864, p = 0.004) after adjusting for other predictors. Furthermore, subgroups were created based on using nonselective β-blockers (NSBBs), demonstrating that quantitatively assessing SATI exerts a vital role in evaluating rebleeding incidence in patients with or without NSBB therapy. Conclusion This study underscores the potential of quantifying SATI as a means for achieving a more accurate risk classification for individual patients and identifying patients that can gain more benefits from nutritional intervention.