Assessment of Serum Acylated Ghrelin in Children and Adolescents with Chronic Liver Diseases: Relation to Nutritional Status

Because ghrelin is one of the key hormones in regulating feeding behavior and caloric status, it was suggested that ghrelin behavior might be closely associated with malnutrition state of patients with chronic liver disease (CLD). Thus, we aimed to assess serum ghrelin levels in children with CLD and its relation to anthropometric parameters and severity of CLD. Forty CLD patients were studied in comparison to 40 controls. All subjects were subjected to history, anthropometric, and laboratory assessment of liver functions and serum acylated ghrelin. Ghrelin was higher in patients than controls being higher with progress of Child's grade and with deterioration of liver functions. Hyperghrelinemia was detected in 62.5% of cases. Ghrelin correlated negatively with body mass index standard deviation score (BMISDS (r = -0.95, P < 0.001)), triceps skin fold thickness (TSFT (r = -0.88, P < 0.001)), and subscapular skin fold thickness (SSFT (r = 0.83, P < 0.001)) percentiles. In conclusion, hyperghrelinemia may represent a compensatory mechanism trying to overcome malnutrition state complicating CLD and can be used as a parameter for early detection and assessment of the severity of malnutrition in children with CLD.