Effect of liver cirrhosis on thyroid hormone levels in patients presenting in a tertiary care hospital

Aim: To assess the mean thyroid hormone levels in patients presenting with liver cirrhosis in local population. Place and duration of study: Research was conducted at Department of Medicine, Shaikh Zayed Hospital, Lahore, from 6 months, done between 21-08-2016 to 20-02-2017. Methodology: It was a cross-sectional study. This study involved 214 patients of both genders aged between 20- 70 years diagnosed to have liver cirrhosis. Thyroid function tests were done in these patients. Results: The age of the patients ranged from 35 years to 70 years with a mean of 52.93±9.17 years. Majority 119(55.6%) of the patients were aged between 53-70 years. There were 131(61.2%) male and 83(38.8%) female patients in the study group with a male to female ratio of 1.6:1. Duration of disease ranged from 8 months to 4 years with a mean of 25.80±11.93 months. 63(29.4%) patients belonged to Child Class-B while 15 (70.6%) patients belonged to Child Class-C. Serum TSH level ranged from 3.5μU/ml to 5.8μU/ml with a mean of 4.65±0.65μU/ml while the serum FT3 level ranged from 1.2pg/ml to 2.9pg/ml with a mean 1.87±0.38pg/ml. Serum FT4 level ranged from 0.6 pg/ml to 2.5pg/ml with a mean of 1.70±0.51pg/ml. Conclusion: Mean serum levels of FT3 and FT4 were lower in patients with liver cirrhosis. Mean serum TSH level was however raised among such patients. It was particularly raised among patients with more severe liver disease while no significant difference was observed across age, gender and duration of disease groups. (author)