Fatality rates are high within two years of drug-induced liver injury

Most patients suffering liver toxicity due to medications or herbal or dietary supplements recover from the acute liver injury without long-term problems, but some do not survive the injury or they require liver transplantation. In a recent study, nearly 10% of patients with definite, highly likely, or probable drug-induced liver injury had a fatal outcome within 2 years of onset.

In the 107 deaths among 1089 patients in the study, drug-induced liver injury was the primary cause of death in 68 patients and was a contributing cause in another 15 (at total of 7.6%). The remaining 22 patients had fatal outcomes unrelated to drug-induced liver injury.

The findings are published in Hepatology.