Cystatin C as an Early Marker of Renal Dysfunction in Patients with Cirrhosis of Liver: A Cross-sectional Study

Abstract

Introduction: Serum cystatin C has been proposed as a sensitive marker for detecting renal impairment. Renal impairment can often co-exist with liver cirrhosis, as decreased blood flow through the cirrhotic liver can lead to kidney dysfunction. However, its role in patients with liver cirrhosis has not been extensively studied, especially in the detection of early renal impairment. Aim: To investigate whether serum cystatin C could serve as a potential marker for detecting early renal dysfunction in patients with liver cirrhosis. Materials and Methods: This hospital-based cross-sectional study was conducted on 60 patients with liver cirrhosis at Assam Medical College and Hospital, Dibrugarh, Assam, India, from June 2019 to May 2020. All patients were assessed for clinical symptoms and laboratory parameters, focusing on renal function tests, measurement of serum cystatin C levels, and Glomerular Filtration Rate (GFR). A two-tailed p-value <0.05 was considered statistically significant in all calculations. Results: In total, 60 consecutive patients with liver cirrhosis were evaluated during the study period, 85% of whom were males. The mean age was 47.4±9.3 years. The mean values of GFR calculated from the mean values of serum creatinine and serum cystatin C were 59.57±31.48 and 31.25±18.32, respectively, both showing a negative correlation (r=-0.802 and r=-0.817, respectively), indicating that cystatin C has a superior correlation with GFR when compared to serum creatinine. Regression analysis showed a tighter distribution of results around the regression line for cystatin C, as indicated by an R2 value of 0.67, compared to 0.64 for creatinine. It was also observed that for every unit rise in serum creatinine and cystatin C value, GFR decreased by 29.89 and 14.67, respectively. Conclusion: Serum cystatin C is a better predictor of GFR than serum creatinine and can therefore be used as an early marker of renal dysfunction in the course of liver cirrhosis.

Keywords

• creatinine
• glomerular filtration rate
• hepato-renal syndrome
• renal function test