Baseline characteristics according to ascites development during the follow-up.

Abbreviations: MELD, Model for End-Stage Liver Disease; ALT, alanine aminotransferase; AST, aspartate aminotransferase; INR, international normalized ratio.* Arterial hypertension included patients with current history of hypertension and antihypertensive medication or high blood pressure (systolic ≥140 mm/Hg and/or diastolic ≥90 mm/Hg on at least 3 occasions) without antihypertensive drugs.†Nonselective beta-blockers as primary prophylaxis for variceal bleeding.For all laboratory measures and for continuous demographics: Wilcoxon signed-ranks tests.Proportions: percentage, P value chi-square.Quantitative data were expressed as median (25%–75% quantiles).The Child-Pugh and MELD scores are measures of the severity of liver disease.