Clinical and Prognostic Values of ALBI Score in Patients With Acute Heart Failure

Background Although liver dysfunction is one of the common complications in patients with acute heart failure (AHF), no integrated marker has been defined. The albumin-bilirubin (ALBI) score has recently been proposed as a novel, clinically-applicable scoring system for liver dysfunction. We investigated the utility of the ALBI score in patients with AHF compared to that for a preexisting liver dysfunction score, the Model of End-Stage Liver Disease Excluding prothrombin time (MELD XI) score. Methods We evaluated ALBI and MELD XI scores in 1,190 AHF patients enrolled in the prospective, multicentre REALITY-AHF study. The associations between the two scores and the clinical profile and prognostic predictive ability for 1-year mortality were evaluated. Results The mean MELD XI and ALBI scores were 13.4±4.8 and -2.25±0.48, respectively. A higher ALBI score, but not higher MELD XI score, was associated with findings of fluid overload. After adjusting for pre-existing prognostic factors, the ALBI score (HR 2.11, 95% CI: 1.60–2.79, p Conclusions The ALBI score is potentially a suitable liver dysfunction marker that incorporates information on fluid overload and prognosis in patients with AHF. These results provide new insights into heart-liver interactions in AHF patients.