To investigate the influencing factors of septic shock of patients with decompensated cirrhosis.

From March 2013 to February 2018, a total of 96 patients with decompensated cirrhosis and septic shock were collected from Infection Department, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region People’s Hospital. The sex, age, length of stay in hospital, sites of infection, pathogenic microorganism, underlying diseases, albumin (ALB), C-reactive protein (CRP), procalcitonin (PCT) and clinical outcomes of the 96 cases were retrospectively compared with decompensated cirrhosis patients without septic shock during the same period.

Among the 96 patients, pulmonary infection rankd the first, accounting for 46.8% (45/96), followed by abdominal infection [32.4% (31/96)]. Total of 23 strains of pathogenic bacteria were isolated from 21 patients (21.9%, 21/96), among which, 78.3% (18/23) were Gram-negative bacilli and 21.7% (5/23) were Gram-positive cocci. There were significant differences in age (χ² = 27.324, P < 0.001), diabetes mellitus (χ² = 16.146, P < 0.001), length of hospitalization (χ² = 30.007, P < 0.001), ALB (χ² = 26.984, P < 0.001), CRP (χ² = 88.821, P < 0.001) and PCT (χ² = 96.028, P < 0.001) between decompensated cirrhosis patients with septic shock and those without septic shock in the same period. The mortality of decompensated cirrhosis patients with septic shock was 39.6%, which was significantly higher than that of those patients without septic shock (8.5%), with significant difference (χ² = 77.070, P < 0.001).

The mortality of decompensated cirrhosis patients with septic shock is high, which is correlated with age, pathogenic microorganism, infection sites, history of diabetes mellitus and length of hospitalization; ALB, CRP and PCT are sensitive indexes for decompensated cirrhosis patients in early stage of septic shock.