title: Hepatitis C virus adversely affects quality of life.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Chronic liver disease secondary to hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a common clinical problem. HCV is likely to adversely affect the quality of life (QoL) of the patient. This effect is said to be disproportionate to the severity of the disease. The aim of our study was to evaluate QoL in HCV-positive patients focusing both on health status and subjective satisfaction.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty-four patients with combined HCV and alcoholic liver disease (ETOH-HCV) were enrolled in the study. We adopted two generic tools: SF-36 (a health status questionnaire) and SAT-P (a satisfaction profile) for psychological assessment of the patients. SF-36 and SAT-P scores of ETOH-HCV patients were compared with scores of 23 patients with alcoholic liver disease (ETOH). The scores obtained from the study groups were also compared with the reference scores of the healthy Italian population.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Both the groups were comparable with respect to age, histological and clinical severity of liver disease (as assessed by MELD and Child Pugh scores). Patients with ETOH-HCV scored less in the vitality and role emotional status domains of the SF-36 scores and the psychological function, social function and free time domains of the satisfaction profile.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results show a significant impact of HCV infection on health status and subjective satisfaction.
authors.affiliation: UO Operative Unit of Hepatobiliary Surgery, University of Padua, Padua, Italy.
authors.forename: Umberto
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Cillo
authors.forename: Piero
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Amodio
authors.forename: Claudio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ronco
authors.forename: Sachin S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Soni
authors.forename: Giacomo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zanus
authors.forename: Lina
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Minazzato
authors.forename: Annalisa
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Salari
authors.forename: Daniele
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Neri
authors.forename: Giancarlo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bombonato
authors.forename: Sami
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Schiff
authors.forename: Tonino
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Bianco
mesh_terms: D006304:Health Status; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000502:physiology; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology* / Q000821:virology; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D008108:Liver Diseases, Alcoholic / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D012107:Research Design; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires