Abstract:
Background and Objectives:
“Liver cirrhosis represents the final common pathway for chronic liver
diseases, characterized by extensive fibrosis and hepatocyte dysfunction. Zinc, an
essential micronutrient with critical roles in protein synthesis, enzymatic reactions,
and antioxidant defense, has been implicated in liver pathophysiology. However, the
relationship between zinc deficiency and cirrhosis severity remains incompletely
characterized in the Indian population. This study aimed to evaluate serum zinc levels
in patients with liver cirrhosis and correlate them with disease severity as measured
by the Child-Pugh classification.”
Methods:
“This hospital-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 85 patients
with cirrhosis of liver attending the outpatient and inpatient departments of BLDE
University's Shri BM Patil Medical College Hospital. Detailed clinical evaluation,
biochemical investigations including serum zinc levels, and Child-Pugh scoring were
performed. Zinc deficiency was defined as serum levels below 51 μg/dL. Statistical
analysis included descriptive statistics, chi-square tests, and ANOVA to assess
relationships between variables.”
Results:
The study cohort comprised predominantly middle-aged males (95.3%), with
alcoholic etiology (89.4%) being the leading cause of cirrhosis. Advanced disease
was common, with 67.1% of patients categorized as Child-Pugh Class C. Zinc
deficiency was observed in 97.6% of patients, with mean zinc levels showing a
significant progressive decrease from Child-Pugh Class A (50.4±4.31 μg/dL) to Class
B (42.32±4.86 μg/dL) to Class C (37.02±3.68 μg/dL) (p<0.001). There was a perfect
parallelism between zinc and albumin deficiency (both 97.6%). The mortality rate
during the study period was 15.3%.
Conclusion:
This study demonstrates an extraordinarily high prevalence of zinc deficiency
in liver cirrhosis with a significant inverse correlation with disease severity. The
progressive decline in zinc levels with worsening Child-Pugh scores suggests that
zinc deficiency may be both a marker of advanced disease and potentially a
contributor to disease progression. These findings support the incorporation of zinc
assessment into the routine evaluation of cirrhotic patients and suggest that zinc
supplementation could be considered as an adjunctive therapy, particularly in
advanced disease.
