THE PREVALENCE OF OSTEOPOROSIS IN PATIENTS WITH LIVER CIRRHOSIS

Introduction: Liver cirrhosis is a major health concern in developing and developed world, the prevalence of the disease is on the rise, there are various complications related to hepatic cirrhosis osteoporosis is one of them , it can increase the morbidity and mortality in such cases.

Objective: To assess the frequency of liver cirrhosis patients suffering from osteoporosis.

Methods and place: This cross sectional study was conducted at National Guard Hospital in KSA from the period of April 2017 to January 2018. The patients with age group 31-75 years suffering from liver cirrhosis for at least 1 year or more were enrolled. The detailed clinical and socio-demographic data was collected and analyzed by Spss 21. The patient was labeled positive for osteoporosis when the T score recorded was less than 2.5 on DEXA scans.

Results: In our study, A  total of  250 cases were enrolled, out of them ,160 (64%) males and 90 (36%) were females with mean age of 45.37±7.13 years. Osteoporosis was recorded in 85 (34%) of patients. Osteoporosis affects  females more, where it is seen in 38 (42.23%) out of 90 cases with p= 0.09. Osteoporosis has  significantly high prevalence (p=0.002) in patients suffering from cirrhosis for more than 3 year affecting 56 (47.97%) cases in contrast to 12 (17%) cases in their same groups. And the percentage is not related to a specific type of hepatitis.

Conclusion: Osteoporosis is common in cases of liver cirrhosis significantly increasing the morbidity and mortality for the parent. Almost every 3rd person suffering from hepatic cirrhosis suffers from osteoporosis and the prevalence increases as the duration of disease increases.
Key words: Liver cirrhosis, osteoporosis, T score, DEXA scan.