Health-related quality of life in patients with chronic hepatitis C and advanced fibrosis.

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Health-related quality of life in patients with chronic hepatitis C and

advanced fibrosis.

Bonkovsky HL, Snow KK, Malet PF, Back-Madruga C, Fontana RJ, Sterling RK,

Kulig CC, Di Bisceglie AM, TR, Dienstag JL, Ghany MG, Gretch DR;

HALT-C Trial Group.

Liver-Biliary- Pancreatic Center and the Departments of Medicine and

Molecular, Microbial and Structural Biology, University of Connecticut

Health Center, Farmington, CT, USA.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Although the antiviral and histological benefits of

peginterferon/ ribavirin therapy are well established, the effects on

health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and sexual health are less certain.

This study assessed HRQOL and sexual health in patients with advanced

fibrosis or cirrhosis in the HALT-C Trial. METHODS: Subjects completed

SF-36 and sexual health questionnaires prior to 24 weeks of peginterferon/

ribavirin therapy (n=1144). Three hundred and seventy-three (33%) subjects

were HCV RNA negative at week 20 and continued therapy through week 48;

258 were seen at week 72. One hundred and eighty achieved sustained

virological responses (SVR) and 78 relapsed. RESULTS: At baseline,

patients had poorer scores for all eight SF-36 domains compared to healthy

controls. Patients with cirrhosis had lower HRQOL scores than those with

bridging fibrosis, as did patients with higher depression scores. SVR

patients had significant improvements in seven domains, whereas relapsers

had significant worsening in one domain. Sexual scores improved in SVR

patients and decreased in relapsers (p=0.03). In multivariate analyses,

improvements in HRQOL and sexual scores were significantly associated with

SVR but were less striking in patients with lower depression scores.

CONCLUSIONS: Achievement of SVR after peginterferon/ ribavirin therapy

improves HRQOL and sexual health in chronic hepatitis C patients with

advanced fibrosis or cirrhosis.

PMID: 17196293 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

http://www.ncbi. nlm.nih.gov/ entrez/query. fcgi?cmd= Retrieve & db=PubMed &

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