Abstract: Objective To investigate the prognosis value of the Model for End-stage Liver Disease (MELD) and Child-Pugh grading in patients with decompensated liver cirrhosis.Methods 136 patients with decompensated liver cirrhosis were graded with MELD formula and with Child-Pugh, and the prognosis value were compared.Results 19.85% and 33.82% of the died within three and six month term respectively, MELD and Child-Pugh score for deaths were higher than those for survivors significantly (P<0.001) .Area under the ROC of MELD was higher than that of Child-Pugh for three month term (P<0.05) .Survival analysis showed MELD and Child-Pugh grading could clearly discriminate between patients who survived or died in six month term (P<0.005) .MELD values had significant correlation with Child-Pugh scores (r=0.67, P<0.001) .Conclusion Both MELD and Child-Pugh scores can accurately predict the short-term prognosis of patients with decompensated liver cirrhosis, MELD grading is more efficient than Child-Pugh score for short-term prognosis.