Health-Related Quality of Life in Portuguese Patients with Chronic Hepatitis C

Abstract

Introduction: Chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection impacts multiple health and psychosocial dimensions and encompasses a significant overall burden as it progresses to advanced stages of hepatic disease. Aims: To evaluate for the first time health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of a subset of Portuguese adult patients with chronic hepatitis C using the Portuguese versions of generic, Short-Form 12 Health Survey (SF-12v2), and disease-specific, Chronic Liver Disease Questionnaire (CLDQ), instruments; to assess psychometric properties of CLDQ, Portuguese version. Methods: HRQoL was evaluated in Portuguese adult outpatients with chronic hepatitis C attending the Hepatology Clinic at Centro Hospitalar do Porto, using SF-12v2 and CLDQ. This transversal study was conducted between April and October 2015. Results: Eighty outpatients with chronic hepatitis C were enrolled, with mean age 57 years (standard deviation 11), 67.5% male, all Caucasian, 76.3% diagnosed for >10 years, 66.3% with C virus genotype 1, 65.0% with hepatic cirrhosis (94.2% of which Child-Pugh A), and 46.3% under current antiviral treatment. For CLDQ internal consistency, Cronbach's α was 0.88; for construct validity, correlations ranged from 0.36 to 0.80 (p < 0.01). Mean CLDQ scores ranged from 4.25 (Worry) to 5.78 (Abdominal Symptoms). Lower scores were observed for Worry, Fatigue, and Emotional Function domains. Statistically significant differences were found in median values of Worry (CLDQ) and Role Emotional (SF-12) (p < 0.05) for “current antiviral treatment,” with higher scores for patients that concluded therapy. Conclusion: HRQoL was negatively affected in several domains in Portuguese patients with chronic hepatitis C; oral antiviral treatment correlated with better quality of life, assuring its benefits on this population; the CLDQ Portuguese version revealed adequate psychometric properties, and was useful in assessing quality of life in Portuguese HCV patients.

Grupos de entreajuda de doentes com hepatite C no ciberespaço

“…A hepatite perturba a vida quotidiana (Fédéra-tion SOS Hepatites, 2003;Körner, 2010;Rei et al, 2017). Além de provocar frequentemente cansaço crónico, obriga a um acompanhamento médico regular, que por sua vez reaviva o sentimento de se ser doente.…”

Health-Related Quality of Life in Chronic Hepatitis C

“…A review of neuropsychiatric symptoms commonly associated with HCV infection showed that major depression was related to illness perception, functional disability, impaired quality of life, fatigue severity, and the presence of psychiatric comorbidity [9] . Likewise, in the study of Rei et al [5] , there was a high prevalence of mood disorders (namely depression) with a negative impact on HRQoL, and the authors therefore recommend screening and suitable psychosocial interventions in a multidisciplinary setting.…”

“…It reflects patient experience using surrogate markers such as health-related quality of life (HRQoL), functional status, perceived stigma, and work productivity [3,4] . In this context, the study by Rei et al [5] addresses an important topic and contributes to improve the scarce available Portuguese data. The main self-administered instruments used were the SF-12 (generic) and CLDQ (disease-specific) HRQoL questionnaires.…”

Chronic Hepatitis C and Health-Related Quality of Life in Patients with Cognitive Impairment

“…We have read the article by Rei et al [1] about health-related quality of life valuation in patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. While we agree that it contributes to the subject knowledge, we think the selection of patients should be further discussed.…”