Branched-chain amino acids supplementation improves liver frailty index in frail compensated cirrhotic patients: a randomized controlled trial

Table 2 Changes in clinical and laboratory parameters from baseline to week 8 and 16 within each group

	BCAA group					Control group
	Baseline	At 8 weeks	P-value*	At 16 weeks	P-value**	Baseline	At 8 weeks	P-value*	At 16 weeks	P-value**
BMI (kg/m²)	24.9 ± 4.7	25.1 ± 5.0	0.38	25.5 ± 4.9	0.04	26.5 ± 5.0	26.5 ± 5.1	0.83	26.1 ± 4.7	0.21
Serum albumin (g/dl)	3.5 ± 0.6	3.6 ± 0.6	0.02	3.8 ± 0.6	< 0.001	3.5 ± 0.5	3.6 ± 0.6	0.65	3.6 ± 0.5	0.36
Child-Pugh score	6.3 ± 1.3	6.1 ± 1.4	0.12	5.9 ± 1.2	0.058	5.9 ± 1.3	6.0 ± 1.2	0.38	5.9 ± 1.4	0.71
MELD	10.4 ± 3.5	10.0 ± 3.0	1	9.4 ± 2.6	0.33	10.3 ± 2.8	10.0 ± 3.1	0.48	10.1 ± 3.5	0.94
MELD-Na	12.5 ± 4.5	11.5 ± 3.5	0.5	10.7 ± 3.1	0.07	12.7 ± 3.7	11.9 ± 3.9	0.26	11.6 ± 4.0	0.28
LFI	5.0 ± 0.4	4.8 ± 0.4	0.02	4.7 ± 0.4	< 0.001	5.2 ± 0.5	5.0 ± 0.5	0.03	5.0 ± 0.5	0.01
HGS (kg)	15.4 ± 5.9	21.1 ± 8.2	< 0.001	22.0 ± 8.2	< 0.001	13.2 ± 4.7	18.6 ± 7.3	< 0.001	18.8 ± 5.5	< 0.001
CST (second)	35.6 ± 10.1	29.8 ± 10.5	0.01	26.3 ± 10.1	< 0.001	34.5 ± 9.9	34.1 ± 10.2	0.52	32.5 ± 10.21	0.02
Balancing test (second)	24.8 ± 3.9	26.3 ± 3.0	0.02	28.3 ± 2.8	< 0.001	23.2 ± 5.5	24.0 ± 6.6	0.26	24.6 ± 6.5	0.07
Body composition
- Muscle mass (kg) - SMI (kg/m²) - Fat free mass (kg)	19.3 ± 5.4 7.5 ± 1.6 45.2 ± 9.9	19.6 ± 5.3 7.7 ± 1.6 44.9 ± 9.8	0.26 0.26 0.52	19.9.2 ± 5.4 7.8 ± 1.5 45.1 ± 10.4	0.06 0.03 0.76	20.1 ± 3.8 7.8 ± 1.2 46.5 ± 7.1	20.2 ± 3.4 7.8 ± 1.1 46.9 ± 6.5	0.92 0.90 0.44	20.2.2 ± 3.6 7.8 ± 1.1 46.6 ± 6.7	0.95 0.97 0.96

*P-value for comparison between baseline vs. week 8
**P-value for comparison between baseline vs. week 16
BMI, body mass index; MELD, model for end-stage liver disease; LFI, liver frailty index; HGS, hand grip strength; CST, chair stands test; SKI, skeletal muscle index

ISSN: 1471-230X