Abstract

ASSESSMENT OF HEALTH RELATED QUALITY OF LIFE IN LIVER DISEASE PATIENTS REVIEW ARTICLE

Neelam Liaqat* and Bushra Ali Sherazi

ABSTRACT

Health-related quality of life has become an important outcome measure for overall assessment of patients with liver disease; it provides detail about the nature of disease and extent of its effects on individuals. Actual purpose of this study is to access the facets of health-related quality of life in chronic liver diseases throughout their spectrum of severity. Liver diseases are a health and social problem globally and its burden is expected to increase with passage of time. A number of different studies have shown a clear reduction in the quality of life of liver-disease patients. Patients with liver disease often suffer from unspecific symptoms and report severe impairment in the quality of life. Hepatitis C and B is major cause of liver disease globally and it leads to cirrhosis. Majority of chronic hepatitis C patients are without symptoms, many extra-hepatic symptoms, such as tiredness, anorexia, myalgia, arthralgia, touchiness and headaches, can lead to impair health-related quality of life. Hepatitis B virus infection has long been the foremost cause of chronic liver disease including liver cancer and cirrhosis. Patients of hepatitis B suffer from depression, fatigue, pain in joints, severity of disease and sadness which will affect their health-related quality of life. Cirrhosis is end-stage liver disease, in which the liver progress scarring as a result of long-term hepatitis B and C. Cirrhotic patients has worst health-related quality of life due to complications of cirrhosis such as (hepatic encephalopathy, ascites, spontaneous bacterial peritonitis, and recurrent variceal hemorrhages). Quality of life can be assessed by means of Well-developed liver disease-specific health-related quality of life instruments which are the Hepatitis Quality of Life Questionnaire (HQLQ), the Chronic Liver Disease Questionnaire (CLDQ), the Liver Disease Quality Of Life Questionnaire (LDQOL), and the Liver Disease Symptom Index 2.0 (LDSI 2.0).Most widely used questionnaire is Chronic Liver Disease Questionnaire (CLDQ).

Keywords: Health-related quality of life, chronic liver disease, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, Chronic Liver Disease Questionnaire.