Assessment of Adrenal Function in Chronic Hepatitis C Patients

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Minia University, Egypt.

Abstract

BackgBackground: Chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a public health problem. A relationship appears to exist between the severity of the liver disease and the presence of RAI. AI has been shown to correlate with progression of liver disease. It can be seen in both stable and critically ill (sepsis, septic shock, and gastrointestinal system bleeding) cirrhotic patients. RAI is a feature of liver disease per se, leading to what is termed hepatoadrenal syndrome. The aim of our study: measurement of cortisone in liver disease patient and study the effect of adrenal function change on liver function. Methods: this cross-sectional hospital-based study was done in Internal Medicine Department, Minia University Hospital. It lasts one year duration, and included 120 patients divided into the following groups: First group: It contained 30 patients with hepatitis c. Second group: It contained 30 persons with hepatic cirrhosis and hepatitis c. Third group: it includes 30 patients with liver failure cirrhosis. fourth group: 30 people control with matched age and sex to patients' group. Results: corticosteroid binding globulin was found to be significantly decreased in cirrhotic patients compared to healthy controls. In this setting, in case of hypoalbuminemia or reduced CBG, the total cortisol is reduced while free cortisol, responsible for glucocorticoid activity on peripheral organs remains unchanged. Conclusion: Total cortisol, as a marker of adrenal function, may lead to overestimation of AI in patients with cirrhosis, high levels of serum free cortisol are associated with a poor prognosis in liver disease.


Keywords

Main Subjects

Minia Journal of Medical Research
Volume 31, Issue 4
October 2020
Pages 39-42

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics