Department of Medical Biochemistry, School of Medicine, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Gondar, Gondar, Ethiopia.
Leishmaniasis Treatment and Research Center of University of Gondar Comprehensive Specialized Hospital, Gondar, Ethiopia.
PLoS One. 2021 Nov 19;16(11):e0260022. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0260022. eCollection 2021.
Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is one of the major public health burden, mainly distributed throughout tropical and subtropical regions of the world. Among the Sub-Saharan African countries, Ethiopia is the second most affected country with VL. An Alteration of liver function is a typical manifestation of the disease.
The purpose of conducting this study was to assess liver function tests and associated risk factors among VL patients at Leishmaniasis Research and Treatment Center of University of Gondar Comprehensive Specialized Hospital, North West Ethiopia.
Hospital based comparative cross-sectional study design was conducted. A total of 102 study participants were involved in this study. Newly diagnosed VL patients who were attended at Leishmaniasis Research and Treatment Center of University of Gondar Comprehensive Specialized Hospital from 21st February 2020 to 30th September 2020 were included under case group category. On the other hand, age-sex matched apparently healthy study subjects were categorized as control group. Written consent was obtained willingness of patients to participate after ethical clearance was obtained from the Institutional Review Board of School of Medicine, University of Gondar. After overnight fasting, 5ml venous blood was drawn from both VL patients and controls to evaluate liver function tests, including AST, ALT, total bilirubin, albumin, and total protein. Thus, senior health professionals (laboratory technologist) investigate the results using Cobas Integra 400 Plus clinical chemistry analyzer. Data was entered into Epi-data version 4.6 and exported to STATA 14 for analysis of liver function tests and associated risk factors.
The result of this study showed that significant mean difference was exhibited in aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), total bilirubin, serum albumin, and total protein level among VL patients and controls. It showed that there was a statistically significant elevation in the level of AST, ALT, and total bilirubin among cases as compared to control. The serum AST level was significantly (p<0.001) elevated among cases as compared to controls. Serum ALT was significantly (p<0.001) elevated among cases compared to controls. Additionally, the total serum bilirubin level was significantly increased (P<0.001) among cases as compared to controls. There was a statistically significant (P<0.001) reduction of serum albumin level among VL patients as compared to controls. Similarly, serum total protein was significantly (P<0.001) reduced in VL patients than control groups.
There were significantly higher mean levels of serum AST, ALT, and total bilirubin among VL patients as compared to controls. On the other hand, VL patients showed significantly lowered level of albumin and total protein as compared to controls.
内脏利什曼病（VL）是主要的公共卫生负担之一，主要分布在世界热带和亚热带地区。在撒哈拉以南非洲国家中，埃塞俄比亚是受 VL 影响第二大的国家。肝功能改变是该病的典型表现。
本研究旨在评估埃塞俄比亚贡德尔大学综合专科医院利什曼病研究与治疗中心 VL 患者的肝功能检查和相关危险因素。
采用医院对照性横断面研究设计。本研究共纳入 102 名研究参与者。2020 年 2 月 21 日至 2020 年 9 月 30 日，在贡德尔大学综合专科医院利什曼病研究与治疗中心新诊断为 VL 的患者被纳入病例组。另一方面，年龄和性别匹配的明显健康研究对象被归类为对照组。在获得校医学伦理审查委员会的伦理批准后，获得患者参与的书面同意。在禁食过夜后，从 VL 患者和对照组中抽取 5ml 静脉血，以评估肝功能检查，包括天冬氨酸转氨酶（AST）、丙氨酸转氨酶（ALT）、总胆红素、白蛋白和总蛋白。然后，高级卫生专业人员（实验室技术员）使用 Cobas Integra 400 Plus 临床化学分析仪检查结果。数据输入 Epi-data 版本 4.6 并导出到 STATA 14 进行肝功能检查和相关危险因素分析。
本研究结果表明，VL 患者和对照组之间的天门冬氨酸转氨酶（AST）、丙氨酸转氨酶（ALT）、总胆红素、血清白蛋白和总蛋白水平存在显著差异。结果显示，与对照组相比，病例组 AST、ALT 和总胆红素水平显著升高。与对照组相比，病例组血清 AST 水平显著升高（p<0.001）。与对照组相比，病例组血清 ALT 水平显著升高（p<0.001）。此外，病例组总血清胆红素水平显著升高（P<0.001）。与对照组相比，VL 患者的血清白蛋白水平显著降低（p<0.001）。同样，VL 患者的血清总蛋白水平明显低于对照组（p<0.001）。
与对照组相比，VL 患者的血清 AST、ALT 和总胆红素水平显著升高。另一方面，VL 患者的白蛋白和总蛋白水平明显低于对照组。
