Comparative Assessment of Liver Function Parameters among Untreated Leprosy and Controls in Pakistan

Abstract

Leprosy is a long-lasting infectious disease that mainly impacts the skin and peripheral nerves, although it can also involve other systems. Given the liver's key roles in metabolism, detoxification, and maintaining biochemical homeostasis, evaluating liver function could yield valuable insights into potential hepatic involvement in leprosy. As a disease progresses or as treatment is administered, liver profile abnormalities may take on clinical significance. To compare selected liver profile parameters, including total bilirubin, direct bilirubin, SGPT (ALT), SGOT (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), and Gamma-GT, in untreated leprosy patients versus healthy controls. A comparative study involving 186 participants was carried out, consisting of 110 untreated leprosy cases and 76 healthy controls. Standard biochemical methods were used to measure the serum liver profile parameters. For each parameter, mean values and standard deviations were computed, and statistical assessments were conducted to determine the differences between the two groups. A p-value of less than 0.05 was deemed statistically significant. In untreated leprosy cases, the average total bilirubin was 0.54 ± 0.12 mg/dL, while in the control group it was 0.53 ± 0.10 mg/dL (p = 0.566). Die Werte für direktes Bilirubin lagen bei 0,13 ± 0,02 und 0,12 ± 0,19 mg/dL (p = 0,102). In cases, the mean SGPT was 27.2 ± 5.17 U/L, whereas in controls it was 28.6 ± 6.19 U/L (p = 0.142). For SGOT, the values were 27.2 ± 4.58 U/L in cases and 28.7 ± 5.67 U/L in controls (p = 0.078). Likewise, ALP levels were 202.2 ± 30.52 U/L in cases and 208.0 ± 33.30 U/L in controls (p = 0.229), while Gamma-GT levels were 22.9 ± 4.69 U/L and 24.5 ± 7.75 U/L, respectively (p = 0.124). All of the assessed parameters exhibited no statistically significant difference between the groups. The results show that the liver biochemical profiles of untreated leprosy patients and healthy individuals are broadly comparable. Even though the mean values of SGPT, SGOT, ALP, and Gamma-GT were somewhat lower in leprosy cases, these differences did not reach statistical significance. The lack of major changes indicates that untreated leprosy was not linked to obvious biochemical hepatic dysfunction in this study population. There was no connection between untreated leprosy and significant changes in serum liver profile parameters. The levels of bilirubin, transaminases, ALP, and Gamma-GT were similar to those of healthy controls, indicating that there was no significant biochemical evidence of hepatic dysfunction in the untreated cases examined.