FREQUENCY OF LOW SERUM FERRITIN LEVEL IN PATIENTS OF DECOMPENSATED CHRONIC LIVER DISEASE SECONDARY TO HEPATITIS C VIRUS INFECTION

Objectives: To determine the frequency of low serum ferritin level in patients of decompensated chronic liver disease secondary to hepatitis C virus infection. Place of study: This descriptive cross sectional study was conducted in Nishtar Hospital Multan during January 2019 to June 2019. The sampling technique we used for this purpose was non probability consecutive sampling. After taking all aseptic measures blood was taken and stored in a serum bottle. The bottle was clearly marked with the name and hospital number of the patients. The serum bottle was send to the hospital laboratory in order to check serum iron, ferritin, TIBC, and LFT, s. The sample was send to the hematology department in order to check for the serum iron and ferritin reports were verified by consultant. The results were recorded on proforma accordingly. Results: Data was entered and analyzed in SPSS version 16.0. Total 165 patients were included according to the inclusion criteria of the study. Descriptive statistics of age (years) of patient was also calculated in terms of mean and standard deviation. Mean age (years) in the study was 53.74+8.66 with ranges from 20 to 60 years. Distribution of gender of patient was also calculated in terms of frequency and percentage of male and female patients. There were 03 (1.8) male and 162 (98.2) female patients who were included in the study according to the inclusion criteria. Conclusion: The study concludes that elevated serum ferritin worsened liver injury. Hence it represents early marker for the severity of chronic liver disease, related both to the degree of liver fibrosis and to the necro inflammatory activity. Key words: Chronic, Liver, Patients, Fibrosi