Rl. Carithers et al., HEALTH ASSESSMENT FOR CHRONIC HCV INFECTION - RESULTS OF QUALITY-OF-LIFE, Digestive diseases and sciences, 41(12), 1996, pp. 75-80
The perception that chronic hepatitis C is an asymptomatic disease con
trasts with many studies that show a strong association between chroni
c hepatitis C, hepatocellular cancer, and fatal liver disease. In orde
r to resolve these issues, it is logical to directly evaluate the qual
ity of life in patients with chronic hepatitis C and to compare this t
o the normal population as well as cohorts of patients with other chro
nic diseases. The Sickness Impact Profile was used to evaluate the imp
act of disease and interferon therapy on health-related quality of lif
e in patients with chronic hepatitis C, Using this tool, patients with
chronic hepatitis C had a total Sickness Impact Profile score of 9.0,
compared with a score of 3.6 among the general population (P < 0.05).
Patients with chronic hepatitis C also had significantly worse scores
in almost every category of the Sickness Impact Profile that could be
compared. However, statistically significant differences were observe
d only at the 24-week evaluation for work and at the end-point evaluat
ion for the sleep and rest and recreation and pastimes categories. A m
ore sophisticated instrument, based on the Medical Outcomes Study 36-i
tem short-form health survey, found that patients with chronic hepatit
is C scored significantly lower (P < 0.01) than the general population
on each of the subscales in this survey, In addition, they scored sig
nificantly lower than patients with hypertension in seven of the subsc
ales and two additional generic scales, Patients with chronic hepatiti
s C were most comparable to those with type II diabetes. A larger, mor
e comprehensive study is underway to further evaluate these relationsh
ips.