Serum zinc value in patients with hepatitis virus-related chronic liver disease: association with the histological degree of liver fibrosis and with the severity of varices in compensated cirrhosis

• Published in: Journal of Clinical Biochemistry and Nutrition 2014, Vol.55(2), pp.147-152
• Main Authors: Iwata, Kazunari, Enomoto, Hirayuki, Nishiguchi, Shuhei, Aizawa, Nobuhiro, Sakai, Yoshiyuki, Iwata, Yoshinori, Tanaka, Hironori, Ikeda, Naoto, Takashima, Tomoyuki, Saito, Masaki, Imanishi, Hiroyasu, Iijima, Hiroko, Tsuda, Yasuhiro, Higuchi, Kazuhide
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: biomarker; esophageal varices; liver cirrhosis; metabolism; Original; zinc
• ISSN: 0912-0009; 1880-5086
• DOI: 10.3164/jcbn.14-33

The relationships between the serum mineral concentrations and the endoscopic findings of esophageal varices have been poorly investigated. In this study, we investigated hepatitis virus-positive patients who had undergone a liver biopsy (n = 576) and 75 patients with compensated cirrhosis in order to evaluate the association of the zinc value with the severity of liver fibrosis and esophageal varices. The mean zinc values decreased with the progression of fibrosis (METAVIR score; F0–1: 71.3 ± 11.3, F2: 68.9 ± 11.7, F3: 66.3 ± 11.8, F4: 63.9 ± 15.0). In the hepatitis virus-related compensated cirrhosis, the mean zinc value decreased with the severity of varices (patients without varices: 66.3 ± 12.6, patients with low-risk varices: 62.5 ± 13.7, patients with high-risk varices: 55.6 ± 13.0). The zinc value was significantly lower in patients with varices than in those without varices (59.3 ± 13.6 vs 66.3 ± 12.6, p