Correlation of Relation of Serum Prolactin Level to Child-Pugh Score in Cirrhosis of Liver in Assessing Disease Severity

Aim: To find the accuracy of prolactin levels and identify the severity and complications. Materials & Methods: This was a cross-sectional study performed in the Department of Medicine at Sri R.L. Jalappa Hospital and Research Centre. Participants: The study involves participants who are diagnosed with liver cirrhosis of age above 18 years. Participants with other health complications were excluded from the study. Interventions: Child pugh scores were compared with serum prolactin levels and the predictive value of serum prolactin was assessed. In the 69 subjects studied mean age was 50.93±8.84 the study population, with the majority of them being males (85.51%) and females 14.49%. The difference in serum prolactin between Child-Pugh scores was statistically significant (P value - < 0.001). Results: The present study found a significant (P < 0.001) higher median prolactin levels in grade 4 hepatic encephalopathy compared to grade 3, 2, and grade 1 (grade 4- 66.00(61.5 to 71.5), grade 3- 47.00(42.0 to 54.0), grade 2-43.00(39.25 to 50.5) and grade 1-40.50(31.25 to 48.25), whereas in cirrhosis cases without hepatic encephalopathy, we found significantly lesser prolactin levels (median- 27.00(range 25.0 to 33.0) compared to cases present with hepatic encephalopathy. The serum prolactin had a sensitivity of 82.61% specificity was 73.91% and diagnostic accuracy was 76.81% in predicting severe child pugh score. Conclusions: There was a higher frequency of cirrhosis complications in patients who had higher blood prolactin levels at admission. Hence, serum prolactin can be considered as a low-cost, biomarker for liver cirrhosis.