Subjective Global Assessment and Handgrip Strength as Predictive Factors in Patients with Liver Cirrhosis

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Malnutrition is common in patients with chronic liver disease. We aimed to evaluate malnutrition assessment tools in predicting severity and survival of patients with liver cirrhosis. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We examined patients with liver cirrhosis. Nutritional evaluation was performed on admission, using subjective global assessment (SGA), handgrip strength (HGS), and anthropometry. Patients were followed up for 6 months. RESULTS: We included 100 patients, 72 men, with mean age of 59.2 years. According to disease severity, patients were 23% Child-Pugh A, 46% Child-Pugh B, and 31% Child-Pugh C. SGA and HGS significantly correlated with Child-Pugh, MELD, and MELD-Na scores on admission. At 6 months follow-up, 80.4% (78 of 97) of patients survived, while 3 patients were lost from observation. Survival was predicted by SGA (1 death in 32 patients SGA A, 8 deaths in 46 patients SGA B, and 9 deaths in 19 patients SGA C, p = 0.001) and HGS (25.1 ± 8.5 in deceased versus 30.6 ± 10.9 in survivors, p = 0.046). The mean BMI and MAMC values did not significantly differ between patients who survived or were deceased at 6 months. CONCLUSION: HGS and SGA may predict severity and short-term survival in cirrhotic patients.