ASSOCIATION BETWEEN SEVERITY OF COMPLICATIONS AND SERUM SODIUM IN PATIENTS OF CHRONIC LIVER DISEASE

Background: Cirrhosis is the end result of chronic liver injury from a variety of causes. It is well recognized in many studies that complicated chronic liver disease is accompanied by hyponatremia. Hyponatremia is a common abnormal finding in approximately 57% of hospitalized patients with chronic liver disease and in 40% of out patients with liver disease. Aim of work: The purpose of the present work is to study the association between serum sodium level and the severity of complications in liver cirrhosis Subjects and Methods: Sixty patients with complicated chronic liver disease and 40 patients with uncomplicated chronic liver disease were randomly selected from Internal Medicine department . . Complications included ascites, hepatic encephalopathy, spontaneous bacterial peritonitis,hepatorenal syndrome, esophageal and gastric varices, were classified based on severity. Patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, any other malignancy or other major organ failure presented at admission and during the follow up, also patients taking antiviral drugs were excluded . Observation: Out of 100 patients of chronic liver disease , 60 patients had complications  like Spontaneous bacterial peritonitis, hepatorenal syndrome, hepatic encephalopathy or hepatic encephalopathy. The decrease in serum sodium level strongly correlated with hepatic encephalopathy, ascites , hepatorenal syndrome and SBP (p value u003c0.05). However, there was no correlation between serum sodium levels with varix . Conclusion: Hence, we could conclude from our study  that Hyponatremia, especially serum sodium levels u003c125 mmol/ was associated with severe complications like ascites, HRS, SBP and hepatic encephalopathy.