Lipid serum profile in patients with viral liver cirrhosis.
OBJECTIVE
Our main aim was to investigate the serum lipid levels in a series of patients with liver cirrhosis of viral origin.


METHODS
The study comprised 90 patients, 60 with viral liver cirrhosis, equally divided between hepatitis virus C (HCV) and B (HBV) etiologies, and 30 control patients with no known liver pathology. Patients were investigated during a 5-year period in the 1st Medical Clinic of the Emergency County Hospital of Craiova, Romania. The following series of serum lipid parameters were recorded: lipemia, total cholesterol and cholesteryl ester, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, very-low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) cholesterol and triglyceride (TG) values. Statistical analysis of these parameters was performed using the ANOVA test followed by Tukey multiple comparison tests to compare replicate means; p < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.


RESULTS
We observed significantly lower values for serum lipids (543.5 and 549.37 mg/dl in the HBV and HCV cirrhosis subgroups, compared with 649.9 mg/dl in controls), total cholesterol (143.6 and 147.9 vs. 198.0 mg/dl, respectively), cholesteryl esters (83.6 and 80, compared to 147.9 mg/dl, respectively), LDL cholesterol (91.6 and 88.5 vs. 132.4 mg/dl) in both cirrhosis groups when compared with controls (p < 0.001), as well as HDL cholesterol (32.1 and 36.9 vs. 47.3 mg/dl, p < 0.05). However, TG and VLDL cholesterol values of controls and cirrhosis groups were similar (p > 0.05). We did not register any differences between the two cirrhosis groups (p > 0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
Our data showed that both HCV and HBV cirrhosis severely impaired liver lipid metabolism. Late stages of the disease resulted in a pseudonormalization of VLDL cholesterol and TG values.
Departments of Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology, University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Craiova, Craiova, Romania.
Cristin Constantin
CC
Vere
Costin Teodor
CT
Streba
Liliana
L
Streba
Ion
I
Rogoveanu
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000150:complications / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000150:complications / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D050356:Lipid Metabolism; D008055:Lipids / Q000097:blood*; D008099:Liver / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology / Q000821:virology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged
D008055:Lipids