Health-Related Quality of Life and Psychosocial Status of End Stage Liver Disease Patients at a Tertiary Care Center From Northern India: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Abstract

End stage liver disease is a chronic progressive condition causing significant morbidity and mortality with a cumulative mental and physical burden leading to impaired health-related quality of life (HRQOL). This study aim is to determine the proportion of cirrhotic with poor HRQOL and factors (biochemical parameters) affecting HRQOL. A cross-sectional study was conducted at a tertiary care center from Northern India among 193 cirrhosis patients utilizing SF-36 and the chronic liver disease questionnaire (CLDQ) tool. HRQOL was determined by mean CLDQ score, while SF-36 was used to determine physical and mental component score. Association between biochemical parameters and HRQOL, correlation between CLDQ domains and SF-36 was studied. Mean age of participants was 46.2 ± 11 years. Most of them were male, 153 (79%) and 40 (21%) female participants. CLDQ mean score was 3.0 ± 1.2, and 83% of the study participants had poor quality of life (QOL). Among hematological parameters, low hemoglobin and low platelet count was significantly associated with poor QoL (P < 0.05). Biochemically, higher bilirubin and lower albumin levels significantly correlated with poor QOL. The CLDQ scores also significantly correlated with physical component score (PCS) domain and mental component score (MCS) domain of SF-36 questionnaire. We found that poor HRQOL in most cirrhotic, as measured by CLDQ questionnaire and SF-36 questionnaire. Among laboratory parameters, low hemoglobin and platelets, higher serum bilirubin, and lower albumin were significantly associated with poor QOL.