Epidemiology deals with the incidence, distribution, and control of a disease in a population. Since ascites is a result of certain diseases and not necessarily a disease, there is not much information about the epidemiology of it. Ascites has a prevalence of 10% when it comes to cirrhosis of the liver. It is the most common complication of it. Unfortunately, ascites has only a 56% chance of survival three years after its onset. It has also been shown that patients with a case of cirrhotic ascites have a three year mortality rate of 50%. Ascites can be minimized by different means such as draining the fluid of the peritoneum, but sometimes the fluid quickly returns or doesn't go away, which is called refractory ascites. Refractory ascites has only a one year survival rate of less than 50%. Ascites increases the morbidity of cirrhosis because it can bring along other complications. These complications include hepatorenal syndrome- a type of kidney failure, and spontaneous bacterial peritonitis which is an infection of the ascitic fluid which has a reported incidence between 7 and 30% of people with ascites. It has been stressed that when ascites becomes apparent, it is important to understand the pathophysiology in order to adequately treat it and prevent further complications. In healthy people, it has appeared that men have little to no fluid in their peritoneum, but women may have as much as 20mL, depending on their menstrual cycle.
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