Vitamin D Deficiency and Its Relationship with Child-Pugh Class in Patients with Chronic Liver Disease

Skeletal manifestation in liver diseases represents the minimally scrutinized part of the disease spectrum. Vitamin D deficiency has a central role in developing hepatic osteodystrophy in patients with chronic liver disease. This study aimed to investigate vitamin D levels and their relationship with disease advancement in these patients. Vitamin D levels were checked in 125 chronic liver disease patients. The patients were classified in three stages according to Child-Pugh score: A, B and C. The relationship of vitamin D levels with Child-Pugh score and other variables in the study was assessed by the contingency coefficient. Correlation and logistic regression analyses were also carried out to find additional predictors of low vitamin D levels. Among the patients, 88% had either insufficient or deficient stores of vitamin D, while only 12% had sufficient vitamin D levels ( >0.05). Vitamin D levels were notably related to Child-Pugh class (contingency coefficient = 0.5,