Quality of life in patients with chronic liver disease

Abstract

Background/Aim. Quality of life is impaired in patients with the chronic liver disease (CLD). Patients with this disease have numerous disabling problems which lead to a reduced health related quality of life (HRQoL). The aim of our study was to evaluate the predictive value of selected socio-demographic and clinical characteristics on HRQoL in Serbian cohort of patients with the CLD. Methods. Over a period of one year, we performed a study which included patients with the CLD. We used Short Form Health Survay-36 (SF-36) for assessment of HRQoL. The assessment of depression and anxiety was made by using Hamilton scale of depression and anxiety, while the assessment of fatigue was performed by Fatigue severity scale. Results. The study included 103 patients with the CLD. The average values of the overall SF-36 scores were 52.6 ± 20.4, while the mean score of the composite scores were 53.5 ± 19.6 for the Mental component summary and 49.8 ± 21.3 for the Physical component summary. Some domains of HRQoL were significantly affected by following factors: gender, age, employment status, alcohol consumption, depression, anxiety and fatigue. Predictors of physical components of HRQoL were employment, depression and fatigue, and predictors of mental components were depression and fatigue. Conclusion. The tested socio-demographic, clinical and behavioral factors have an impact on the HRQoL in patients with the CLD. The most important predictors of HRQoL are behavioral factors suggesting the need for an adequate therapeutic action in order to improve the HRQoL in these patients.

Quality of Life in Patients with Primary Biliary Cholangitis: A Single-Center Experience in Serbia

“…All symptom domains in our patient group had significant influence on patients' QoL. Fatigue was the symptom with the most prominent influence on HRQoL, which is similar to the findings of previously reported studies [4,21]. Fatigue has a major impact on PBC patients' QoL and has been associated with sleep disturbance among these patients, as well as autonomic dysfunction [18].…”

Quality of Life for Family Caregivers of Patients with Lymph Nodes Cancer

“…These findings were in line with research done in China by Alavinejad et al (20) , who discovered that more than two thirds of caregivers had a low QoL. Additionally, these findings were in line with a research by Popovi et al (21) that was done in Belgrade and found that three-quarters of the sample had a low QoL. According to the researcher, the majority of family caregivers struggle to control the sickness because they don't have enough information about it, which lowers their QoL.…”

“…Regarding the relationship between family caregivers overall knowledge scores and overall QOL scores regarding lymph node cancer, the current study found that there was a very significant positive connection between these two variables among the examined sample at P-value 0.001. These findings were in line with a research carried out in France by Popović et al (21) who found a highly significant positive association between total knowledge and total QOL related lymph node cancer among the sample they were studying. From the investigator point of view, the more knowledge of family caregivers increases their QoL.…”