Health-related quality of life in patients with chronic hepatitis B.

UNLABELLED

Although chronic hepatitis C (CH-C) has consistently been shown to impair patients' health-related quality of life (HRQL), the impact of chronic hepatitis B (CH-B) on HRQL has not been fully explored.

AIM

Compare HRQL between patients with CH-B, CH-C, primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) and healthy controls.

DESIGN

Three HRQL questionnaires [Chronic Liver Disease Questionnaire (CLDQ), Short Form 36 (SF-36) and the Health Utility Index (HUI Mark-2 and Mark-3)] were administered prospectively. Additional clinical and laboratory data and normative data for healthy individuals, were available.

ANALYSIS

Scores were compared using analysis of variance and multiple regression.

RESULTS

One hundred and forty-six patients with CH-B, CH-C and PBC were included [mean age 47.1 years (+/-11.6), 41% female, 33% cirrhosis]. CH-C and PBC patients scored the lowest on all CLDQ, SF-36 and HUI domains compared with CH-B patients and healthy controls. CH-B patients had scores similar to the healthy population, measured by most CLDQ and SF-36 scales. However, the HUI scores for CH-B patients showed more impairment than population norms. Having CH-B and not having cirrhosis were predictive of utility and HRQL scores in multivariate models.

CONCLUSIONS

CH-B patients have better HRQL than CH-C, PBC and population norms. CH-B patients' overall utility scores are lower than population norms.