Serum Zinc Levels in Cirrhotic Patients Attending General and Specialty Hospitals, Yangon

Cirrhosis of liver is one of the common medical problem in daily clinical practice and one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality. Zinc is an essential trace elements for human and plays in many biological roles in the body. Among them, zinc deficiency is thought to be involved in metabolism of ammonia and causes hyperammonia that worsen hepatic encephalopathy. This study aimed to find out the severity of cirrhosis of liver was by Child Turcotte Pugh score and to investigate the associations between serum zinc level and severity of cirrhosis. A hospital-based cross-sectional descriptive study was performed on 78 patients with different underlying causes of cirrhosis of liver at the Medical Units of Yangon General Hospital and Yangon Specialty Hospital. Among the study population, Child grade A was found to be 28.21%, Child grade B was 30.77% and Child grade C was 41.03%. Regarding result of serum zinc level, 62.8% were low level, 28.2% were within normal level and 8.9% were high level. Mean value of serum zinc level in grade A was 0.68 mg/l, grade B was 0.54 mg/l and grade C was 0.48 mg/l (p=0.00). It was found out that there was a high prevalence of zinc deficiency in severe cirrhotic patients. The zinc level was significantly lowest among patients with Child-Pugh C as compare to those with Child-Pugh B and C. Severity of zinc deficiency should be requested for supplementation therapy in cirrhotic patients as to prevent complications such as hepatic encephalopathy, hepatocellular carcinoma and liver failure. Screening for zinc deficiency may need in these patients with more advanced cirrhosis because it seems to be a marker of advanced liver disease and it can be deducted that awareness of serum zinc level among cirrhotic patients is very important in clinical practice.