Serum Sodium Concentration in Predicting Survival of Patients with End-stage Liver Disease

Although there are different indices to predict survival of cirrhotic patients such as Child-Pugh score and MELD Score, the anticipatory role of serum sodium concentration has been considered recently. The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of serum sodium level in prediction of the survival of cirrhotic patients. In a descriptive-analytical study, 106 patients with decompensated cirrhosis were recruited during 9 months. All the patients were followed up at three-month intervals for one year with emphasis on their survival status. The mean serum sodium level in expired patients was 137.66±5.18 meq/L versus 141.64±4.22 meq/L in live cases (P<0.001). Furthermore, the majority of the expired cases had low levels of sodium; in a group of sodium level <130 meq/L, 85.7% died at the follow up period. In addition, the serum sodium cut-off values of 132.5 and 125 meq/L respectively resulted in sensitivity of 83% and 100% in prediction of the survival. Serum sodium level can be used as an independent survival predictor in decompensated cirrhotic patients and it seems that combination of sodium with MELD score can be a better indicator.