To determine correlation between biochemical parameters of nutritional status with disease severity in HCV related liver cirrhosis

OBJECTIVE: To identify correlation between biochemical parameters of nutritional status with disease severity in HCV related liver cirrhosis in patients attending tertiary care hospital. METHODS: Total 259 HCV related liver cirrhosis patients who attended the outpatient department of KRL Hospital, Islamabad from June 2016 to January 2018 were included in this cross-sectional study. HCV status was confirmed with PCR. Cirrhosis was pre-established by ultrasound, while cirrhosis severity was gauged by CTP score. Biochemical parameters for nutrition status included serum albumin, creatinine, cholesterol, LDL, HDL, triglycerides, hemoglobin, ferritin, sodium, potassium, magnesium and calcium. Other demographic and clinical data were also recorded. RESULTS: The mean age of patients was 58.73 ± 6.04 years with 57.1% being males. The average BMI was 22.72 ± 1.69 kg/m(2). Majority patients i.e. 123 (47.5%) belonged to CTP-A, 67 (25.9%) were in CTP-B and 69 (26.6%) in CTP-C groups. Significant negative correlations of cirrhosis severity were established with BMI, albumin, creatinine, cholesterol, LDL, TG, HDL, hemoglobin, sodium and magnesium indicative of malnutrition. Analysis of biochemical parameters amongst individual cirrhosis groups revealed significant negative correlation across the same factors in group CTP-C, while CTP-A correlated positively with these parameters. The only significant correlation found in CTP-B was with albumin, HDL, hemoglobin, sodium and magnesium. CONCLUSION: Considering limitations of standard ways alone to assess malnutrition in liver cirrhosis, biochemical parameters are valid to aid in diagnosing malnutrition.