PSYCHOLOGICAL DISTRESS IN PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC, NONALCOHOLIC, UNCOMPLICATED LIVER-DISEASE

To study whether the presence of significant disease in a major organ, possibly with minimal or no clinical symptoms, would be associated wi th psychological disturbance, 80 subjects suffering from chronic hepat itis or cirrhosis, of nonalcoholic etiology were interviewed. Of these , 64 had either minimal or no physical symptoms. Patients completed th e Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) and the Impact of Event Scale (IES), q uestionnaires, which measure symptoms of psychological distress. It wa s found that 50% of the liver subjects were defined as cases by the BS I criteria including 15% who were defined as severe cases. There were no gender differences. Forty-five percent of asymptomatic liver subjec ts were defined as cases. Psychological distress was significantly pro nounced in subjects with less than 12 years of education. This study p oints to a significant incidence of psychological distress, even in cl inically asymptomatic subjects, suffering from chronic, nonalcoholic, uncomplicated liver disease. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Inc.