Unveiling The Crucial Biomarkers for Liver Health

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), nearly 1.7 million adults are diagnosed with sepsis each year, resulting in approximately 270,000 deaths and one of the main reasons for readmissions to the hospitals. If you are interested in learning about the causes, diagnosis, prognosis and the biomarkers that indicate sepsis, read on.

Recently, I was involved in a project, Sepsis Analysis. The main objective was early sepsis detection, a fundamental element in enhancing patient outcomes by analyzing patient’s vitals and biomarkers during their hospital stay.

What is Sepsis?

Sepsis is the body’s extreme response to an infection and if not detected and treated promptly will lead to severe sepsis, septic shock and sometimes even death.

What causes Sepsis?

Bacterial infections are a major cause of sepsis. Surgeries, burns or trauma can also cause infections in individuals which can lead to sepsis.

Stages of Sepsis:

• SIRS: Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome is the first stage. To be diagnosed as a SIRS patient, one has to have 2 out of 4 abnormal vitals, heart rate, temperature, respiratory rate, and white blood cell count (WBC). Most patients with this condition might not develop sepsis. According to our analysis, the majority of onset sepsis patients (those who developed sepsis during their stay in the hospital) met this criteria.

• Second Stage, SEPSIS: SIRS alongside an infection leads to SEPSIS
  

• Third Stage, SEVERE SEPSIS: organ dysfunction in sepsis patients is a sign of severe sepsis.
  

• Fourth Stage, Septic Shock: is a life-threatening situation. Tissue damage and organ failures are very common in this stage and sometimes can lead to death.

Project Details:

We categorize patients into three groups based on the data

• NON-SEPSIS Patients: The patients who were admitted into the hospital without sepsis and also did not develop sepsis during their stay in the hospital.

• Sepsis Patients: The patients who were admitted into the hospital with sepsis

• Onset Sepsis Patients: The patients who did not have sepsis at the time of admissions, but developed sepsis during their stay in the hospital.

Tools: Tableau Public is the only tool we used to analyze the data and to create visual representations.

Analysis On Liver:

Liver is an important organ in our body. It performs many important bodily functions, hence maintaining liver health is vital in overall health.

As a part of the project, we studied the impact of biomarkers on liver, heart, kidney and lungs, however, we will concentrate on the liver today.

When I think of liver, one of the biomarkers that comes to my mind is bilirubin and a couple of liver enzymes like AST(Aspartate Aminotransferase) and ALP(Alkaline Phosphatase). So, initially I thought abnormalities in these conventional liver biomarkers are prominent in the majority of sepsis patients. But I was proven wrong, and was surprised by the results.

Abnormalities in certain biomarkers can indicate organ dysfunction, a critical aspect in sepsis progression. We focused on 7 biomarkers for our liver analysis that includes AST, ALP, Glucose, Bilirubin Direct, PTT(Partial Thromboplastin time), Fibrinogen, and Lactate. We studied the initial readings of each patient and categorized them as normal or abnormal based on the analyzed biomarker’s acceptable ranges.

Upon analyzing these abnormal initial readings, we noticed that the majority of the patients have abnormal readings which is a clear indication of liver dysfunction. Also, many of them were diagnosed with sepsis within a day, which is a very useful insight. This information is useful in identifying at risk patients and hence aid healthcare providers tailor treatment strategies that leads to positive patient outcomes.

Which Biomarker signals liver dysfunction the most?

We were curious to find the crucial biomarkers that indicate liver dysfunction, so we categorized patients depending on their number of abnormalities. Then we identified the corresponding biomarkers in each category. The results were quite surprising.

Glucose is the winner of this contest. Also, the combination of Glucose and Lactate took the first place.

Importance of Early detection:

Our analysis clearly shows that the liver is one of the organs affected by sepsis and abnormalities in some biomarkers indicate liver dysfunction and can lead to sepsis development. So, if we can identify the patients that are at risk of developing sepsis earlier and closely monitoring them can increase positive patient outcomes.

Sepsis is a treatable condition if detected early. So, Early detection helps healthcare providers to implement timely intervention and therefore, can avoid progressing into severe stages of sepsis.

Visual representation: This visual shows the top biomarker/combination of biomarkers that indicate the liver dysfunction in patients. Irrespective of the patient category, Glucose and Lactate emerged on top.

Unveiling the crucial biomarkers for liver health

Healthy Habits to a Healthy Liver:

• Practice Hygiene to avoid infections

• Manage your blood sugar levels

• Eat healthy

• Exercise regularly

• Quit smoking

• Limit your alcohol consumption, quit if possible

Conclusion:

We analyzed many biomarkers in this project, but Glucose and lactate are proven to be the most important ones with respect to liver; Detecting abnormalities in advance is crucial in early detection of liver health and can help medical staff in making informed decisions that lead to timely interventions. This will immensely enhance positive outcomes.

Stay healthy by practicing healthy habits. Take care of your health and your loved ones.