Hyponatremia and Its Correlation With Hepatic Encephalopathy and Severity of Liver Disease

Abstract

Background and objective Hepatic cirrhosis is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Patients with cirrhosis frequently develop complications such as ascites, variceal bleeding, and hepatic encephalopathy (HE). The clinical manifestations of HE range from the mildly altered level of sensorium to severely altered consciousness levels, difficulty in judgment, the day-night reversal of sleep, flapping tremor of hands, and irrelevant talking or speech. Patients with hyponatremia are at a higher risk of developing HE and electroencephalographic abnormalities. The severity of hyponatremia is directly related to the deterioration in terms of grades of HE. Our study sought to determine the frequency of hyponatremia in cirrhotic patients and its correlation with the frequency and severity of HE. Methodology This study was carried out at the inpatient department of medicine in a tertiary care hospital in Pakistan. A total of 260 patients of both genders with hepatic cirrhosis were approached. After taking relevant history and physical examination, the venous blood sample of each patient was drawn and sent to the institutional laboratory for estimation of serum electrolytes, liver function tests (LFTs), renal parameters (RPMs), prothrombin time (PT), activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT), and international normalized ratio (INR). We classified the HE according to the West Haven classification system. Mild to moderate encephalopathy was classified under grades I-II, while severe encephalopathy was classified under grades III-IV. We documented the severity of liver disease according to the Child-Pugh score criteria. All data were analyzed by using SPSS Statistics version 25.0 (IBM, Armonk, NY). We reported the data as means along with the standard error. Results Overall, the serum sodium levels of the subjects ranged from 115 to 142 meq/L with a mean of 129.11 ±6.53 meq/L. In patients with hyponatremia, it ranged from 115 to 127 meq/L (mean 121.41 ±5.17 meq/L). Hyponatremia was present in 96 (36.9%) patients. Among these, 51 (53.12%) were male and 45 (46.8%) were female; 24 (9.2%) patients had mild hyponatremia, 56 (21.5%) had moderate, and 16 (6.2%) had severe hyponatremia. HE was present in 176 (67.7%) patients. HE grade I was present in 54 (20.8%), grade II in 62 (23.8%), grade III in 32 (12.3%), and grade IV in 28 (10.8%) patients. In 96 patients with hyponatremia, 84 were found to have HE (p-value: <0.001). Conclusion Based on our findings, cirrhotic patients with chronic hepatitis infections have a variable presence of low sodium levels. Sodium levels of <130 meq/L were associated with higher morbidity and mortality rate. Moreover, patients with lower levels of sodium had higher grades of HE.

Correlation of Serum Sodium Level with Severity of Hepatic Encephalopathy

“…Furthermore, in 96 patients with hyponatremia, 25.0% had mild hyponatremia, 58.3% moderate while remaining 16.7% had severe hyponatremia. 21 Our findings are very consistent with what Younas A et al reported where significant correlation of severity of hyponatremia was observed with regards to grades of HE (p<0.001). 21 Our findings are consistent with the published literature that hyponatremia is a common finding especially in patients presenting with HE.…”

“…21 Our findings are very consistent with what Younas A et al reported where significant correlation of severity of hyponatremia was observed with regards to grades of HE (p<0.001). 21 Our findings are consistent with the published literature that hyponatremia is a common finding especially in patients presenting with HE. Researchers in the past have shown that patients of liver cirrhosis with hyponatremia have higher rates of adverse inhospital outcomes.…”

Hyponatremia in Chronic Liver Disease among Patients Presenting to a Tertiary Care Hospital: A Descriptive Cross-sectional Study

“…Younas A, et al conducted a study in liver disease patients with hyponatremia, which showed serum sodium levels ranging from 115 to 127meq/L (mean 121.41±5.17meq/L). 15 Low serum sodium levels was present among these patients in 96 (36.9%) patients which was lower that what our study had showed. Fiftyone (53.12%) patients among these were male and 45 (46.8%) were female.…”

Seroprevalence of Hepatitis B Virus and Hepatitis C Virus in Patients Undergoing Maintenance Hemodialysis

“…Most of the patients (90%) recover from the acute infection by forming neutralizing antibodies, and the rest of the patients develop chronic hepatitis B [ 1 ]. Similarly, HCV infection also manifests as both acute and chronic hepatitis C. Most cases develop a chronic infection that leads to cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma, cardiovascular disorders, and neurological manifestation like hepatic encephalopathy [ 12 , 13 ]. Moreover, hemodialysis patients suffer from anxiety and depression, which can be exacerbated by this infection, leading to increased morbidity and mortality [ 14 ].…”