Improved cognition after rifaximin treatment is associated with changes in intra- and inter-brain network functional connectivity

Table 1 Demographic characteristics and liver disease aetiology by group

	Controls (n = 22)	nMHE patients (n = 22)	MHE patients (n = 31)	MHE patients following treatment (n = 18)
	Controls (n = 22)	nMHE patients (n = 22)	MHE patients (n = 31)	Response (n = 13)	No response (n = 5)
Sex (M/F)	14/8	15/7	26/5	11/2	5/0
Age^†	60 ± 6 (50–73)	62 ± 8 (50–81)	64 ± 9 (48–85)	62 ± 7 (53–74)	65 ± 10 (49–74)
Aetiology
Alcohol		7	13	8	1
Hepatitis (HCV/HBV)		11/0	9/1	4/0	0/1
Metabolic		2	6	0	2
Other		2	2	1	1
Child Pugh A/B/C^‡		19/3/0	17/10/4*	8/5/0	4/1/0
MELD^†^,^§		8 ± 2	10 ± 4*	9 ± 3	8 ± 2

In brackets: age range
Comparisons between controls, nMHE, and MHE groups were analysed by one-way ANOVA followed by post-hoc Tukey’s multiple comparison test
HBV, hepatitis B virus; HCV, hepatitis C virus; MHE, minimal hepatic encephalopathy; MELD, model end stage liver disease
The Child Pugh Score is derived from a score of 1–3 given for severity of ascites, hepatic encephalopathy, INR, albumin and bilirubin. The higher the score, the greater the liver disease severity
Significant differences are indicated by *: *p < 0.05
^†Values are expressed as mean ± SD
^‡Differences in proportions were analysed with Chi-square test
^§Differences between groups (nMHE vs. MHE; response vs. no response groups) were analysed with T-test

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