Serum zinc level in patients
with liver cirrhosis

Aftab Ahmed Soomro¹, Bikha Ram Devrajani², Khalid Shaikh³,
Syed Zulfiquar Ali Shah⁴, Tarachand Devrajani⁵, Ishrat Bibi⁶

ABSTRACT

Objective: To determine the serum zinc level in patients with liver cirrhosis.

Methodology: This descriptive cross sectional study was conducted at Liaquat University Hospital Hyderabad Sindh, Pakistan. All patients above 12 years of age, of either gender and known (diagnosed) cases of liver cirrhosis were further evaluated for their serum zinc level. The data was analyzed in statistical software (SPSS) and the p value <0.05 was considered as statistically significant.

Result: One hundred twenty seven cirrhotic patients with means age 42.7559 ± 15.8894 were evaluated and assessed. The serum zinc was low in 69% patients. According to Child-Pugh classification 72% zinc deficient cirrhotic subjects were in class C, 16% in class B & 12% in class A. 94% subjects had hepatitis C virus infection, 4% had hepatitis B virus infection and 2% had history of alcoholism.

Conclusion: The serum zinc level was low in patients with liver cirrhosis.

KEY WORDS: Liver cirrhosis, Zinc, Trace elements.

Pak J Med Sci    October - December 2009 (Part-II)    Vol. 25 No. 6    986-991

How to cite this article:

Soomro AA, Devrajani BR, Shaikh K, Shah SZA, Devrajani T, Bibi I.Serum zinc level in patients with liver cirrhosis. Pak J Med Sci 2009;25(6):986-991.

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1. Dr. Aftab Ahmed Soomro MD
Consultant Physician,
Department of Medicine,
2. Dr. Bikha Ram Devrajani FCPS
Associate Professor,
Department of Medicine,
3. Dr. Khalid Shaikh MD
Assistant Professor
Department of Medicine
4. Dr. Syed Zulfiquar Ali Shah
PG-Student (FCPS)
Department of Medicine
5. Dr. Tarachand Devrajani
PG-Student (FCPS)
Department of Medicine
6. Dr. Ishrat Bibi
PG-Student (D-Derm)
Department of Dermatology
1-6: Liaquat University of Medical and
Health Sciences (LUMHS),
Jamshoro,
Hyderabad - Pakistan.

Correspondence:

Dr. Syed Zulfiquar Ali Shah
Department of Medicine,
Liaquat University of Medical & Health Sciences
Jamshoro, Hyderabad - Sindh, Pakistan.
Email: zulfikar229@hotmail.com

* Received for Publication: May 15, 2009

* Revision Received: September 9, 2009

* Revision Accepted: September 29, 2009

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