[Assessment of the health-related quality of life of patients with minimal hepatic encephalopathy].
OBJECTIVE
The Medical Outcome Study of 36-item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36) is a well-validated generic questionnaire widely used to assess health-related quality of life (HRQOL), and the Chronic Liver Disease Questionnaire (CLDQ) is a specific HRQOL assessment designed for patients with liver diseases. The aim of our study is to evaluate the HRQOL based on SF-36 and CLDQ (Chinese version) in patients with chronic hepatitis B and liver cirrhosis, especially in the status of minimal hepatic encephalopathy (MHE).


METHODS
The SF-36 and CLDQ were answered by 160 healthy volunteers, 20 patients with chronic hepatitis B and 106 patients with cirrhosis. HRQOL scores of the groups with different liver disease severities and with or without MHE were compared. The SF-36 includes one multi-item scale that assesses eight health categories: physical functioning, role-physical, body pain, general health, vitality, social functioning, role-emotion, and mental health. CLDQ assesses 6 categories: abdominal symptoms, fatigue, systemic symptoms, activity, emotional function and worry.


RESULTS
Compared with the healthy controls, patients with chronic hepatitis B and liver cirrhosis at baseline had a lower HRQOL on all scales of the SF-36 and CLDQ (P < 0.01 for all). Increased severity of liver cirrhosis (based on the Child-Pugh score but with MHE or without) was associated with a decrease in most components, both in SF-36 and in CLDQ. However, patients with Child-Pugh B and C disease had similar HRQOL scores on both the SF-36 and CLDQ (P > 0.05), except role-physical and vitality on SF-36. There was a significant difference between patients with and without MHE on the SF-36 score (P < 0.01), and no significant difference (P > 0.05) on CLDQ scores except in abdominal symptoms.


CONCLUSIONS
The Chinese version of SF-36 along with CLDQ are valid and reliable methods for testing MHE in patients with liver cirrhosis.
Bo
Zhi-jun
ZJ
Department of Gastroenterology, Huadong Hospital, Shanghai 200040, China.
Qiu
De-kai
DK
Ma
Xiong
X
Zhang
Gan-sheng
GS
Fan
Zhu-ping
ZP
Huang
Yi-qin
YQ
Yu
Xiao-feng
XF
Zeng
Min-de
MD
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006501:Hepatic Encephalopathy; D006801:Humans; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011788:Quality of Life; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult