Medicine – MCQ 162 – Discriminant function

Discriminant function is used for determining the prognosis of?
A. Alcoholic hepatitis
B. Cirrhosis
C. Viral hepatitis
D. Fulminant hepatic failure
E. Hepatocellular carcinoma

The modified Maddrey’s discriminant function is used to determine prognosis of alcoholic hepatitis. It is calculated as follows:

It is useful in predicting short term prognosis especially mortality within 30 days. A value more than 32 implies poor outcome with one month mortality ranging between 35% to 45%.