BACKGROUND & AIMS: We assessed the impact of propranolol on death, risk of hepatorenal syndrome and peritonitis in patients with cirrhosis.

METHODS: This study was a retrospective observational study and data were retrieved from Danish databases. We used our own criteria to stratify the patients into groups of patients with mildly decompensated cirrhosis or severely decompensated cirrhosis. A subgroup of patients with a history of peritonitis was also analyzed. Follow-up time was limited to 2 years from cohort entry. The reported hazard ratios (HR) with 95% confidence interval (CI) were based on a propensity score matched cohort.

RESULTS: Among 3719 patients, we found 3075 patients with mildly and 644 with severely decompensated cirrhosis. Propranolol was used by 20% of the patients. Among the patients with mildly decompensated cirrhosis, propranolol use vs. non-propranolol was related with a HR of 0.7 (95% CI 0.6-0.9) and among the patients with severely decompensated cirrhosis, the HR was 0.6 (95% CI 0.4-0.9). Reduced mortality was found for doses of propranolol lower than 160 mg/day only. Among 361 patients with peritonitis, we found reduced mortality in the propranolol group with a HR of 0.5 (95% CI 0.3-0.8). The use of propranolol was associated with a HR of 0.4 (95% CI 0.2-0.9) for developing peritonitis during follow-up among patients with severely decompensated cirrhosis.

CONCLUSIONS: In patients with decompensated cirrhosis, we found an association between propranolol use and reduced mortality risk for doses lower than 160 mg/day.