• Gokulapriya Ramachandran, Biju Pottakkat, Pazhanivel Mohan, and Sharbari Basu.
• Department of Surgical Gastroenterology, Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research, Dhanvantri Nagar, Puducherry 605006, India.
• Am. J. Med. Sci. 2024 Mar 15.

BackgroundWe aimed to evaluate the prevalence of malnutrition using traditional measures of nutritional assessments like body mass index (BMI), mid-arm circumference (MAC), triceps skin fold thickness (TSF), mid-arm muscle circumference (MAMC), hand grip strength (HGS) and subjective global assessments (SGA) among cirrhotic patients referred for liver transplantation (LT).MethodsThe study was conducted among 215 cirrhotic patients referred for LT at a tertiary care hospital. Patients were enrolled between July 2021 and October 2022 to assess the prevalence of malnutrition. Patient's demographic details, clinical history, BMI using dry weight, MAMC, HGS, SGA score and disease severity were assessed.ResultsChronic alcoholism was the main causative factor for cirrhosis, followed by viral infection. 58% of cirrhotic patients were moderately to severely malnourished based on SGA, 12% were undernourished based on BMI, 91% had low MAC, and 94% had low HGS/muscle strength indicating malnutrition. Low MAC (p = 0.048) and SGA (p = 0.000) were associated with CTP - B and C class, and low MAC (p = 0.046), low TSF (p = 0.005), and SGA (p = 0.000), were associated with MELD Na score >15. Low MAC (p = 0.011) and SGA (P = 0.000) were associated with mortality, although 78% of patients had MAC within the normal range. A strong association exists between malnutrition and complications, liver disease severity, and death.ConclusionIn patients with chronic liver diseases, SGA performed well as a good predictor of malnutrition, this might be because SGA analyses various domains which can be affected in chronic liver disease. Assessing malnutrition early may help in initiating appropriate medical nutritional therapy.Copyright © 2024 Southern Society for Clinical Investigation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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