Altered quality of life in the early stages of chronic hepatitis C is due to the virus itself.

ABSTRACT:

Unlabelled

Health-related quality of life (HRQOL) is impaired in chronic viral hepatitis and a direct role of the virus, although suggested, has not been demonstrated. Our aim was to evaluate HRQOL at blood donation before knowledge of the diagnosis of both hepatitis C virus (HCV) and hepatitis B virus (HBV) so as to elucidate this matter.

Methods

Prospectively, 67 sequential patients, 35 with HCV and 32 with HBV, and 67 matched controls were administered the generic Short Form-36 (SF-36) questionnaire. After knowledge of diagnosis, the SF-36 was repeated and a disease-specific questionnaire (Liver Disease Quality of Life, LDQOL-1.0) was also administered. The Wilcoxon test and Mann-Whitney U were used for between-group comparisons.

Results

Before knowledge of diagnos

SUBMITTER: Strauss E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5061030 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature