Vitamin D Deficiency and Its Relationship with Child-Pugh Class in Patients with Chronic Liver Disease

摘要

Background and Aims: Skeletal manifestation in liver dis-eases represents the minimally scrutinized part of the disease spectrum. Vitamin D deficiency has a central role in developing hepatic osteodystrophy in patients with chronic liver disease. This study aimed to investigate vitamin D levels and their relationship with disease advancement in these patients. Methods:Vitamin D levels were checked in 125 chronic liver disease patients. The patients were classified in three stages according to Child-Pugh score: A, B and C. The relationship of vitamin D levels with Child-Pugh score and other variables in the study was assessed by the contingency coefficient. Correlation and logistic regression analyses were also carried out to find additional predictors of low vitamin D levels. Results: Among the patients, 88％had either insufficient or deficient stores of vitamin D, while only 12％ had sufficient vitamin D levels (p>0.05). Vitamin D levels were notably related to Child-Pugh class (contingency coefficient = 0.5, p <0.05). On univariate and multinomial regression analyses, age, female sex, MELD and Child-Pugh class were predictors of low vitamin D levels. Age, model of end-stage liver disease score and Child-Pugh score were negatively correlated to vitamin D levels (p<0.05). Conclusions:Vitamin D deficiency is notably re-lated to age, female sex and model of end-stage liver disease score, in addition to Child-Pugh class of liver cirrhosis. Vita-min D levels should be routinely checked in patients with ad-vanced liver cirrhosis (Child-Pugh class B and C) and this deficiency must be addressed in a timely manner to improve general well-being of cirrhotic patients.