ASSESSMENT OF LIVER FUNCTION TEST AND ASSOCIATED FACTORS AMONG VISCERAL LEISHMANIASIS PATIENTS ATTENDING UNIVERSITY OF GONDAR COMPREHENSIVE SPECIALIZED HOSPITAL, NORTHWEST ETHIOPIA

Abstract

Abstract Background: Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is one of the major public health problems, mainly distributed throughout tropical and subtropical regions of the world and the second vector born disease following malaria. Among the Sub-Saharan African countries, Ethiopia is the second most affected country in VL. The disease manifested with altered liver function. Alteration in the liver function related to the disease has variations in different studies. Objective: To assess liver function tests and associated factors of visceral leishmaniasis patients at Leishmaniasis Research and Treatment Center of University of Gondar Comprehensive Specialized Hospital, North West Ethiopia. Method: Hospital based comparative cross-sectional study design was implemented. A total of 102 individuals were participated in the study. Written consent was obtained for willingness of patients to participate after ethical clearance was obtained from the Institutional Review Board of School of Medicine, University of Gondar. Blood samples were collected by senior health professionals and tested using VEGASIS (AMS) chemistry analyzer. Data was entered into Epidata version 4.6 and exported to STATA 14 for analysis. Result: The result of this study showed that significant mean difference was exhibited in AST, ALT, total bilirubin, serum albumin and total protein level between VL and controls. It showed that there were significantly increased in the level of AST, ALT and total bilirubin in cases as compared with controls. serum AST was found significantly (p<0.001) higher in cases (61.8 �.4) as compared to controls (23.8�). serum ALT was found significantly (p<0.001) higher in cases (47.5 �.8) as compared to controls (28.2�.5). The mean total serum bilirubin was significantly higher (P<0.001) among cases (1.4�4) as compared with controls (0.9�4). There was statistically significant (P< 0.001) mean reduction of serum albumin in VL patients (2.8 �7) as compared with control groups (4.4 �5). Serum total protein was also found significantly (P< 0.001) reduced in VL patients (5.9 �2) as compared with control groups (7.4 �7). Conclusion: Our present finding indicates that, there were significantly higher mean levels of serum AST, ALT and total bilirubin and lower mean level of albumin and total protein in VL patients as compared to controls.