Vitamin D Deficiency in Patients Having Chronic Liver Disease: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Aim: To determine the frequency of vitamin D deficiency in patients having chronic liver disease

Study design: A cross-sectional research

Place and Duration: Medical department, People’s University of Medical and Health Sciences for Women Nawabshah from 28^th January to 27^th July 2017.

Methodology: A total of 191 diagnosed cases of chronic liver diseases with sun exposure of at least 15 minutes per day were included. Patients were assessed to diagnose vitamin D deficiency. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the data. The post-stratification chi-square test was used after stratification. P-value of < 0.05 was considered significant

Results: The mean age of the participants was 40.16±8.02 years. Mean sun exposure was 29.76±24.48 minutes per day. Mean serum SGPT level was 4.44±1.20 mg/dl. The mean vitamin D level was 14.28±8.50 ng/mL. A total of 74.3% of study subjects were found with vitamin D deficiency. There was a significant association between vitamin D deficiency with gender, age, and sun exposure while no significant association was found with religion, occupation and cause of chronic liver disease.

Conclusion: The patients with chronic liver disease were significantly found as vitamin D deficient. Vitamin D insufficiency and the degree of liver function may be linked, suggesting that it might be used as a diagnostic tool.