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Malnutrition and small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) is frequently present in patients with liver cirrhosis (LC). However, the direct relationship between SIBO and nutrition status in the LC patients has not been elucidated. The aim of this study was to investigate whether there was an association between nutrition status, evaluated by the subjective global assessment (SGA) and SIBO in patients with Hepatitis B virus (HBV) or hepatitis C virus (HCV) related cirrhosis. A total of 120 patients with HBV or HCV-related cirrhosis and 30 healthy controls were included. Nutritional status was determined according to SGA and anthropometry. All patients and healthy controls underwent a glucose hydrogen breath test for SIBO. The prevalence of malnutrition for the patients with HBV or HCV related cirrhosis ranged 19.4%-60% in China. The highest prevalence of malnutrition was detected by SGA, the lowest by triceps skinfold thickness. The frequency of SIBO was significantly higher in the malnourished (SGA-B/C) than in the well-nourished (SGA-A) patients with HBV or HCV related cirrhosis [41/72 (56.9%) vs 12/48 (25.0%) (p=0.001)]. Univariate analysis showed that SIBO, ascites, and Child-Turcotte-Pugh (CTP) class were associated with malnutrition. Multivariate analysis demonstrated that SIBO [odds ratio (OR) 8.10; p=0.002] and ascites (OR 4.56; p=0.022) were independently associated with the occurrence of malnutrition (SGA-B/C) in the same subjects. SIBO is independently related to the occurrence of malnutrition (SGA-B/C) in patients with HBV or HCV cirrhosis. We deduce that SIBO may play an important role in nutrition status in patients with HBV or HCV cirrhosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]