Uma T.1, Nirmaladevi P.2, Shanthi R.3, Mahalakshmi R.4
BACKGROUND
Alcoholism remains to be the major cause of morbidity and mortality throughout
the world. Consuming alcohol is the potent etiological factor for the development
of alcoholic liver diseases (ALD), ranging from fatty liver to hepatocellular
carcinoma with varying rates of development in both genders depending on the
quality, quantity, and duration of the drink. Zinc deficiency has been documented
with the progression of alcoholic liver disease. It is also a well-known fact that zinc
is a co-factor for enzyme alkaline phosphatase. This study aims to assess the zinc
status and alkaline phosphatase activity in patients with various stages of alcoholic
liver disease, correlate zinc with alkaline phosphatase activity, albumin, gamma
glutamyl transferase activity, MELD score and duration of alcohol intake and
analysing the need for evaluating zinc in these patients.
METHODS
This comparative observational study involves group I healthy controls and group
II patients diagnosed to have ethanol related decompensated liver disease with or
without portal hypertension for more than three years from the Department of
Medical Gastroenterology, Government Medical College Hospital. 5 ml of venous
blood in fasting state was collected from both groups and assayed for serum zinc,
and serum alkaline phosphatase activity. The data was statistically analysed.
RESULTS
The study results demonstrate that higher percentage of patients with alcoholic
liver disease have low serum zinc levels than healthy controls. Zinc when
compared with variables like serum albumin, duration of alcohol intake, MELD
score, serum gamma glutamyl transferase and alkaline phosphatase in the case
and control groups were found to be statistically significant.
CONCLUSIONS
There is decrease in serum zinc level and increased alkaline phosphatase activity
in patients with alcoholic liver disease. The statistically significant data is a strong
rationale for evaluating the zinc status and thereby supplementing zinc to patients
with alcoholic liver disease.
