Hospitalisation in cirrhosis is linked to distinct gut microbiome structural and functional profiles: a multinational metagenomic study.

Gut microbiome structural and functional profiles predict 90-day hospitalisation risk in cirrhosis with an AUC of 0.84, outperforming clinical models.

• Why it matters: Hospitalisations in cirrhosis are major events with limited prediction accuracy based solely on clinical data, highlighting the need for better prognostic tools to improve patient management.
• What they did: A multinational cohort of 679 outpatients with cirrhosis underwent stool metagenomic profiling, analyzing taxonomic, functional, and antibiotic resistance genes, followed by machine learning model development.
• The result: Microbiome features, including reduced diversity and specific bacterial species, alongside functional pathway shifts, significantly enhance prediction of hospitalisation risk, enabling more precise prognosis.