Tongue thickness in health vs cirrhosis of the liver: Prospective observational study

Table 1 Tongue thickness in the study groups

Study group	mean ± SD	Median (range)
Child class A	4.39 ± 0.39 cm	4.50 cm (range 4.25-4.53)
Child class B	4.19 ± 0.53 cm	4.15 cm (range 3.99-4.39)
Child class C	3.87 ± 0.42 cm	3.80 cm (range 3.71-4.02)
Normal (healthy) subjects	4.33 ± 0.49 cm	4.35 cm (range 4.15-4.51)

SD: Standard deviation.

Table 2 Comparison of tongue thickness in the study groups

(I) CTP class	(J) CTP class	Mean difference (I-J)	Std. error	Significance	95%CI
					Lower bound	Upper bound
Class A	Class B	0.2000	0.1186	0.335	−0.109	0.509
	Class C	0.5233a	0.1186	0.000	0.214	0.832
	Normal	0.0567	0.1186	0.964	−0.252	0.366
Class B	Class A	−0.2000	0.1186	0.335	−0.509	0.109
	Class C	0.3233a	0.1186	0.037	0.014	0.632
	Normal	−0.1433	0.1186	0.623	−0.452	0.166
Class C	Class A	−0.5233a	0.1186	0.000	−0.832	-0.214
	Class B	−0.3233a	0.1186	0.037	−0.632	-0.014
	Normal	−0.4667a	0.1186	0.001	−0.776	-0.158
Normal	Class A	−0.0567	0.1186	0.964	−0.366	0.252
	Class B	0.1433	0.1186	0.623	−0.166	0.452
	Class C	0.4667a	0.1186	0.001	0.158	0.776

^aStatistically significant. CTP class: Child Turcotte Pugh class. CI: Confidence interval

Table 3 Correlation between “Model for end stage liver disease” score and tongue thickness

		Tongue thickness	MELD score
Tongue thickness	Pearson correlation	1	−0.330a
	Significance (2-tailed)		0.001
	n	120	90
MELD score	Pearson correlation	-0.330a	1
	Significance (2-tailed)	0.001
	n	90	90

^aStatistically significant. MELD score: Model for end stage liver disease score.

Table 4 Correlation between age and tongue thickness

		Tongue thickness	Age
Tongue thickness	Pearson correlation	1	−0.081
	Significance (2-tailed)		0.382
	n	120	120
Age	Pearson correlation	−0.081	1
	Significance (2-tailed)	0.382
	n	120	120

Table 5 Correlation between tongue thickness and L3 skeletal muscle index

		Tongue thickness	L3SMI
Tongue thickness	Pearson correlation	1	-0.074
	Significance (2-tailed)		0.424
	n	120	120
L3SMI	Pearson Correlation	-0.074	1
	Significance (2-tailed)	0.424
	n	120	120

L3SMI: L3 skeletal muscle index.

Table 6 Comparison of L3 skeletal muscle index in Child Turcotte Pugh class C and normal healthy subjects

CTP class	L3SMI					P value
	Mean	Standard deviation	Median	Minimum	Maximum
Class C	38.2613	8.88428	39.3900	18.37	52.85	0.63
Normal	39.6640	6.80565	40.1900	31.24	50.25

L3SMI: L3 skeletal muscle index; CTP class: Child Turcotte Pugh class.

Table 7 Intraclass correlation coefficient for ultrasonography measurements of tongue thickness

	Intraclass correlation	95%CI		F test with true value 0
		Lower bound	Upper bound	Value	df1	df2	Sig
Single measures	0.954a	0.939	0.966	63.487	119	238	0.000
Average measures	0.984a	0.979	0.989	63.487	119	238	0.000

^aStatistically significant. Sig: Significance. CI: Confidence interval.