Characteristics of liver cirrhosis in Italy: results from a multicenter national study.

Abstract Background. In 1992, the characteristics of liver cirrhosis in Italy were assessed in a cross-sectional study among 1829 cirrhosis patients attending 21 tertiary centres. Aim. To evaluate the characteristics of cirrhosis patients 9 years later. Patients. A total of 2185 consecutive cirrhosis patients were enrolled over a 6-month period in 79 hospitals located throughout Italy, randomly selected by means of systematic cluster sampling. Results. The main agent associated with cirrhosis was hepatitis C virus, which was found in 69.9% of the patients and was the only etiologic factor in 51.1% of the patients. Hepatitis B surface antigen was present in the serum of 13.0% of the cases (i…