Hepatology

MELD (original, UNOS)

Educational content onlySource-checked

Cross-checked against published sources on October 8, 2026 (automated, AI-assisted); not reviewed by a licensed clinician. Not medical advice, not for diagnosis or treatment decisions. Always verify with current guidelines and consult a qualified professional. We may be wrong: this page can contain errors. If you spot one, report it and we will check it against current sources and correct it.

Sources checked (4)

Elsevier / AGA (Gastroenterology) via PubMed Central. MELD 3.0: The Model for End-Stage Liver Disease Updated for the Modern Era (accessed October 8, 2026)
Massachusetts Medical Society (N Engl J Med) via PubMed Central. Hyponatremia and mortality among patients on the liver-transplant waiting list (NIH manuscript) (accessed October 8, 2026)
Hepatology (Wiley) record in Europe PMC. A model to predict survival in patients with end-stage liver disease (abstract) (accessed October 8, 2026)
Gastroenterology (Elsevier) record in Europe PMC. Model for end-stage liver disease (MELD) and allocation of donor livers (abstract) (accessed October 8, 2026)

Source policy Medical disclaimer

Formula

MELD = round(10 x [0.957 ln Cr + 0.378 ln bilirubin + 1.120 ln INR + 0.643]); values below 1 set to 1; Cr maximum 4.0 (4.0 if on dialysis); maximum 40.

Limitations

Superseded for US allocation by MELD-Na (2016) and MELD 3.0 (2023); MELD 3.0 is not implemented here.
Rounding conventions vary (UNOS rounds MELD(i) to tenths in some documents); this implementation rounds the final x10 value once.

References

A model to predict survival in patients with end-stage liver disease. Kamath PS, Wiesner RH, Malinchoc M, et al. Hepatology. 2001;33(2):464-470. PMID 11172350
A model to predict poor survival in patients undergoing transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunts. Malinchoc M, Kamath PS, Gordon FD, et al. Hepatology. 2000;31(4):864-871. PMID 10733541