Background: Hypermetabolism, insulin resistance, and diabetes are common in patients with liver cirrhosis.
Objective: We assessed whether diabetes and insulin resistance influence postabsorptive energy homeostasis in these patients and whether liver transplantation (LTx) and immunosuppressive drugs affect these relations.
Design: Twenty-six patients with liver cirrhosis (16 with and 10 without diabetes) were studied with an insulin clamp and indirect calorimetry. Eleven of these subjects were studied 9 mo after LTx to longitudinally assess its effects. To cross-sectionally explore a longer follow-up period, we studied 65 patients 6, 14, and 32 mo after LTx. Seven patients with chronic uveitis (receiving immunosuppressive therapy) and 20 healthy subjects served as control subjects.
Results: Diabetic and nondiabetic patients with cirrhosis had insulin resistance (S(I(clamp)); P < 0.03) and higher measured resting energy expenditure (REE) as a percentage of predicted REE than did healthy subjects (107.6 +/- 1.8% compared with 97.4 +/- 2.3%; P < 0.03), and these 2 alterations were associated (R(2) = 0.119, P = 0.0002). The longitudinal study showed an improvement in the 2 variables after LTx, but full restoration was not achieved. The cross-sectional analysis confirmed this observation in patients studied 6 mo (n = 28) after LTx. In patients studied 14 (n = 21) and 32 mo (n = 16) after LTx, S(I(clamp)) and measured REE as a percentage of predicted REE were not significantly different from those in control subjects.
Conclusions: In patients with liver cirrhosis, higher-than-normal postabsorptive REE was associated with insulin resistance regardless of diabetes. This abnormality persisted in patients studied 6-9 mo after LTx but improved simultaneously with the improvement in insulin sensitivity thereafter.