title: Nutritional status in patients with hepatitis C.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the nutritional status via the SGA (subjective global assessment) screening tool of patients at all stages of hepatitis C virus (HCV) liver disease.
  
  
  METHODS
  Descriptive study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Out-patient Clinics of the Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, conducted from October 2009 to January 2011.
  
  
  METHODS
  Patients with hepatitis C virus infection and their HCV-negative attendants were enrolled from the outpatient clinics, and categorized into 4 groups of 100 patients each: healthy controls (HC), those with chronic hepatitis C infection (CHC), compensated cirrhotics (CC) and decompensated cirrhotics (DC). The validated subjective global assessment (SGA) tool was used to assess nutritional status.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 400 patients were enrolled. Most of the patients in the HC group were class 'A' (best nutritional status). In contrast, the majority (64%) in the DC group were in the class 'C' (worst status). The compensated cirrhosis (CC) group showed that 90% of patients were malnourished, while 98% of all patients were malnourished in the DC group, predominantly class 'C'. Most importantly, 14% of patients with chronic hepatitis C (CHC) also scored a 'B' on the SGA; which when compared to HC was statistically significant (p=0.005). As the groups progressed in their disease from CHC to DC, the transition in nutritional status from 'A' to 'C' between groups was statistically significant.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Malnutrition occurs early in the course of HCV, and progresses relentlessly throughout the spectrum of HCVdisease.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, The Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi. faisal.ismail@aku.edu
authors.forename: Faisal Wasim
authors.initials: FW
authors.lastname: Ismail
authors.forename: Rustam A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Khan
authors.forename: Lubna
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Kamani
authors.forename: Ashfaq A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Wadalawala
authors.forename: Hasnain Ali
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Shah
authors.forename: Saeed S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Hamid
authors.forename: Wasim
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Jafri
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D044342:Malnutrition / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D015596:Nutrition Assessment; D009752:Nutritional Status; D010045:Outpatients; D010154:Pakistan / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012720:Severity of Illness Index