Abstract
Chronic liver disease (CLD) is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Derangements in the lipid profile have been found in chronic liver disease and are prone to develop cardiovascular diseases in the long run. Lipid indices and its association with cardiovascular risk and chronic liver disease severity were studied. After obtaining ethical clearance, medical records of the study population were analyzed. Data was collected of patients admitted to the hospital with chronic liver disease and control group consisted of apparently healthy volunteers selected from the master health check-up department. The study included 512 participants, out of which 256 were chronic liver disease patients and 256 healthy volunteers. Baseline characteristics, lipid profile parameters and the number of days of hospital stay for chronic liver disease patients were noted. Lipid indices were calculated using following formulae: Atherogenic Index of Plasma (AIP) = log Triglyceride/HDLc; Castelli’s Risk Index (CRI-I) = Total cholesterol/HDLc; Castelli’s Risk Index (CRI-II) = LDLc/HDLc; Atherogenic Coefficient (AC) = (Total cholesterol–HDLc)/HDLc; Non-HDL cholesterol (NHC) = Total cholesterol – HDL. The lipid indices were correlated with severity of liver disease assessed by Child-Pugh and MELD scores. Alcohol was the cause in 44% of chronic liver disease patients followed by 18% of patients due to Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease. Mean serum cholesterol, HDL and LDL were significantly low in CLD group. Among atherogenic indices - AC, CR-I and CRI-II were significantly high in CLD group while mean AIP and NHC were high in the control group. Atherogenic indices may serve as a simple and cost-effective predictor of cardiovascular risk and severity of chronic liver diseases.