Association between the Globe Score, Uk-Score and The Response to Ursodesoxycholic Acid During Primary Biliary Cholangitis

Abstract

Introduction: Ursodeoxycholic acid (AUDC) is the standard treatment for primary biliary cholangitis (PBC). Prescribing it at an early stage slows the progression of the disease and improves survival. Thus, the biological response to AUDC is considered as the main predictor of survival without liver transplantation. New scores, the Globe-score, and UK-score have recently been validated as the main prognostic factor during PBC. The purpose was to study the association between the Globe-score, UK-Score and the AUDC response during PBC. Patients and Methods: This is a retrospective study of all PBC cases treated by AUDC at a dose of 13-15mg/kg over a 22-year period (January 1998-May 2019). Treatment response was defined by the Paris II criteria at 1 year (a serum alkaline phosphatase (PAL) level 1.5 times the upper limit of normal (LSN), an aspartate aminotransferase (ASAT) level 1.5 times the LSN, normal bilirubinemia). The Globescore and UK-PBC score have been calculated for all our patients. The statistical analysis of the data was done using the SPSS software. The comparison between good treatment responders and non-responders was made using the Chi2 test for qualitative variables and the Mann-Whitney test for quantitative variables. A combination of variables was considered statistically significant if p < 0.05. Results: During the study period, 90 cases of PBC were collected. There were 85 women and 5 men. The average age was 49 12.3. 52.3% patients (n=34) had a complete therapeutic response while 31 patients (47.7%) retained non-response after one year of AUDC treatment. The average Globe score for good responders was-0.62[-0.72;-0.36] and for non-responders was 1.53[1.32; 1.75] with a statistically significant difference (p0.001).