Objective: Decompensated cirrhosis is a frequent reason for emergency admittance, and such patients are more likely of in-hospital mortality. It is characterized by ascites, jaundice, hepatic encephalopathy, hepato-renal disorder or hemorrhage from varices. Albumin has a significant value in the treatment of cirrhotic patients. Therefore, this study was intended to assess the serum albumin level as predictive marker in patients with decompensated liver disease.

Methodology:This cross sectional study was performed in medicine unit at Khyber Teaching Hospital Peshawar, using non-probability convenient sampling technique. The duration of the study was about 6 months from September 2020 to February 2021. The ethical approval was obtained from “Hospital Ethical Committee”. A total of 100 patients diagnosed with DCLD having age between 20-80 years of both genders were included in the study. Laboratory parameters such as hepatitis type and PT/aPTT, LFTs, serum albumin and CRP were assessed. Variable such as age was documented as Mean±SD. Frequencies and percentages were reported for gender, age and sreum albumin level. 

Results:The study findings revealed that out of 100patients, 54(54.0%) patients were males and 46(46.0%) were females with their observed mean age was 54.38 ±10.60 years. Most of the patients 50(50.0%) had hypoalbuminemia were in the age between 40-59 years. Additionally, hypoalbuminemia in the range of 2.1-2.5 gm/dl was observed in 42(42.0%) cases. It was also revealed that maximum frequency of male patients 27(64.2%) and female patients 15(64.2%) had hypoalbuminemia in the range of 2.1-2.5 gm/dl.Additionally, only 5(5.0%) male patients and 8(8.0%) female patients revealed normal albumin level 3.1-3.5 gm/dl.

Conclusion: This study concluded that serum albumin level is a prognostic indicator of decompensated liver disease. Most of the patients had hypoalbuminemia with male preponderance reflecting poor prognosis. Furthermore, middle and older aged individuals were more affected by decompensated liver disease.

Keywords: Decompensated Cirrhosis, Serum albumin level, prognostic indicator, age, gender