Abstract: Objective · To analyze the clinical characteristics of decompensated cirrhosis patients with intestinal obstruction and related risk factors.  Methods · Clinical data of 1 783 decompensated cirrhosis patients treated between March 2010 and March 2016 were collected. Of them, 128 (7.18%) patients with intestinal obstruction were screened as the observation group and 128 patients without intestinal obstruction were randomly selected as the control group. Clinical data of two groups were retrospectively investigated, clinical characteristics were compared and analyzed, and related risk factors were analyzed with the Logistic regression analysis.  Results · The clinical symptoms of decompensated cirrhosis patients with intestinal obstruction were hidden and misdiagnoses or delayed diagnoses were common. The incidences of abdominal pain, abdominal distension, vomiting, stop exhaust defecate, ascites, electrolyte disorders, fever, and spontaneous peritonitis were significantly higher in the observation group than in the control group (P < 0.05). The results of univariate analysis showed that age, history of abdominal surgery, white blood cell count, serum sodium, serum potassium, neutrophil percentage, and serum albumin were risk factors for decompensated cirrhosis patients with intestinal obstruction. The results of multivariate analysis indicated that age, history of abdominal surgery, white blood cell count, serum sodium, serum potassium, neutrophil percentage, and serum albumin were independent risk factors for decompensated cirrhosis patients with intestinal obstruction.  Conclusion · Decompensated cirrhosis patients with age ≥ 50 years old, a history of abdominal surgery, the abdominal cavity infection, low potassium, hyponatremia, and lower serum albumin are likely to develop the intestinal obstruction.

Key words: cirrhosis, intestinal obstruction, clinical characteristics, risk factors