Vitamin D deficiency in cirrhosis relates to liver dysfunction rather than aetiology

To examine the vitamin D status in patients with alcoholic cirrhosis compared to those with primary biliary cirrhosis.

Our retrospective case series comprised 89 patients with alcoholic cirrhosis and 34 patients with primary biliary cirrhosis who visited our outpatient clinic in 2005 and underwent a serum vitamin D status assessment.

Among the patients with alcoholic cirrhosis, 85% had serum vitamin D levels below 50 nmol/L and 55% had levels below 25 nmol/L, as compared to 60% and 16% of the patients with primary biliary cirrhosis, respectively (P < 0.001). In both groups, serum vitamin D levels decreased with increasing liver disease severity, as determined by the Child-Pugh score.

Vitamin D deficiency in cirrhosis relates to liver dysfunction rather than aetiology, with lower levels of vitamin D in alcoholic cirrhosis than in primary biliary cirrhosis.