Abstract
While plasma arginase-1 has been suggested as a biomarker of mental status in healthy individuals, it has not been evaluated in patients with chronic liver disease. This cross-sectional study investigated the utility of plasma arginase-1 for screening mental status in patients with chronic liver disease. This study included outpatients with chronic liver disease who underwent regular check-ups at Okayama University Hospital between September 2018 and January 2019. In addition to the standard blood tests, the plasma arginase-1 level was analyzed. The patients’ mental status was assessed using the Japanese version of the General Health Questionnaire-28 (GHQ-28). The associations between mental status and various parameters, including plasma arginase-1, were investigated using logistic regression analysis. Among 114 participating patients, 8 were excluded, comprising 6 with insufficient blood samples for plasma arginase-1 measurement and 2 with incomplete questionnaires. Multivariate binomial logistic regression analysis revealed that plasma arginase-1 was significantly and negatively associated with the GHQ-total score, especially somatic symptoms. Therefore, plasma arginase-1 may be a useful biomarker for assessing the mental status of outpatients with chronic liver disease.
Highlights
Stress plays a role in the development of physical and mental disorders [1,2,3]
Serum arginase-1 levels were significantly associated with oxidative stress, exhaled nitric oxide (NO), and L-arginine in a healthy population [13,14,15] and were a significant explanatory variable for job strain in healthy workers [21]. These results suggest that blood arginase-1 levels could be an indicator of mental status in healthy individuals, arginase-1 has not been explored in patients with chronic liver disease
The mean of the liver stiffness measurements of 52 patients was 6.379 kPa, the measurements of 5 patients were above 12.5 kpa, which is the standard value for the diagnosis of cirrhosis [24]
Summary
Stress plays a role in the development of physical and mental disorders [1,2,3]. A physical response to stress occurs owing to an imbalance in the autonomic nervous system; the associated chronic inflammation contributes to the development of physical diseases [4,5,6,7]. Questionnaires are exclusively used to measure stress, and few “gold standard” measures of stress can be used in daily practice [1]. A metaanalysis of the association between psychological distress and liver disease mortality showed a significant increase in liver disease mortality with increased General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) score [12]. Assessing the mental and physical status of patients with chronic liver disease in daily practice is an important factor for the treatment of liver disease
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