We conclude that chronic liver disease substantially reduces HRQL, and this impact does not differ markedly by type of disease. Older age and measures of disease severity were associated with poorer HRQL.

We conclude that utilities should be based on patient reports and that the data from this study can inform economic analyses in studies of patients with chronic liver disease.

No abstract

This study is designed to measure the impact of orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) on patients' health-related quality of life. Two types of health-related quality-of-life questionnaires were administered at baseline and after OLT: generic (Medical Outcomes Study Short Form 36) and liver specific (Chronic Liver Disease Questionnaire). We also recorded clinical, demographic, and laboratory data. Pre-OLT scores of liver transplant candidates were compared with those of the general population and patients with congestive heart failure (CHF) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Thirty-seven liver transplant candidates were evaluated: 25 men and 12 women; age, 50.2 ؎ 12 years; Child's class A, 3 patients; class B, 30 patients; class C, 4 patients; and galactose elimination capacity, 277 ؎ 81. Health-related quality-of-life scores for patients awaiting liver transplants were significantly lower than those for patients with COPD and CHF and those in the general population. Sex and cause of liver disease did not affect the scores. There was a weak but significant inverse correlation between some aspects of health-related quality of life and both age (r ‫؍‬ -0.31 to -0.34) and worsening of the Child-Pugh score (r ‫؍‬ -0.32 to -0.43). All measured aspects of healthrelated quality of life significantly improved after OLT, and mental health scores were indistinguishable from the population norms. Similar improvements were evident in physical and disease-specific aspects of health-related quality of life, but some residual dysfunction persisted. (Liver Transpl 2000;6:779-783.) C hronic liver disease and its complications are the ninth leading cause of death in the United States. In addition to its effect on mortality, end-stage liver disease has a profoundly negative impact on morbidity and health-related quality of life. Orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT), the established standard treatment for patients with end-stage liver disease, has a 1-year survival rate of 80% to 85%. An integrated approach to health care developed over the past 2 decades combines such traditional biomedical outcomes of OLT as survival with such socioeconomic outcomes as health-related quality of life. This study systematically evaluates the impact of OLT on health-related quality of life. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]