Nutritional status and lifestyle of liver cirrhotic patients in Kashmir

Liver cirrhotic patients were investigated for their lifestyle, body mass index, biochemical and clinical signs of disease. The study included 500 liver cirrhotic patients who were visited and hospitalized in SKIMS and SMHS hospital Srinagar. The data was collected by using the self made questionnaire which was pretested on 10 patients. These ten patients were excluded from the study. Demographic data, level of education, biochemical values, clinical signs, weight, height and mid arm circumference was undertaken. Out of the 500 cirrhotic patients, 60% were from rural area and 40% were from urban area, 73.8% were males and 26.2% were females. It was observed that illiterates, laborers, married ones with nuclear type of family system from low economic status were being suffering from the liver cirrhosis. The disease is more seen in the age group of 46-60 years. Low BMI and muscle wasting were present in almost all of the studied patients. Hyperbilirubinemia, low albumin and protein levels were observed in studied patients. Anemia, PEM, ascites, edema, muscle wasting were prevalent in vast majority of the patients.