Prevalence of malnutrition in patients with liver cirrhosis in a tertiary care hospital

Abstract

Introduction: Cirrhosis of liver is a progressively deteriorating disease. Medical management consist of treatment and prevention of complications. Nutritional intervention to improve nutritional status of the malnourished patient has favorable impact on prognosis. Traditional measures of nutritional assessment like Body Mass Index and waist circumference are inaccurate. This study was conducted to study the prevalence of malnutrition in cirrhotic patients. Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted at National Academy of Medical Sciences, Bir Hospital, Kathmandu, Nepal. The study included 60 cirrhotic patients from outpatient department. Subjective Global Assessment was performed for all participants and level of malnutrition recorded. Height, weight, waist circumference, body mass index were measured and recorded. Results: Among the cirrhotic patients, malnutrition was detected in 46 (76.66%) [68.38 to 85.94 at Confidence Interval 95%]. Out of 46 patients who were malnourished, 20 (43.47%) had mild to moderate malnutrition whereas 26 (56.53%) had severe malnutrition. The most common cause of cirrhosis was alcohol. The mean body mass index and mean waist circumference were within normal limits. Conclusions: Malnutrition is very common among cirrhotic patients and its prevalence increased from Child A to Child C status.