Health-related quality of life in chronic hepatitis C: Impact of disease and treatment response

The effects of HCV infection and management on health-related quality of life

“…6,7 However, HRQL was shown to improve in patients who achieved SVR with antiviral therapy. 8 Therefore, effective treatment of HCV infection should include a baseline assessment of HRQL and subsequent measurements after initiation of antiviral therapy.…”

“…9 The SF-36 comprises 8 domains containing 36 questions that may be self-administered or given by a trained interviewer. 9 Ware et al 8 added 2 CHC-specific domains to further assess the impact of HCV infection on HRQL. The SF-36 been used effectively in the measurement of HRQL during antiviral therapy.…”

Prevalence and significance of neurocognitive dysfunction in hepatitis C in the absence of correlated risk factors

“…Furthermore, there may be more subtle indicators of functional disability present, even in our specific sample of relatively unimpaired patients. Although health-related quality of life has been reported to be reduced in HCV and to improve with treatment, [30][31][32] much of this literature is based on reports in patients with significant chronic liver disease. Several recent studies suggest that, among individuals with mild clinical morbidity, labeling or awareness of HCV serological status is itself a significant cause of poor health-related quality of life.…”

An intervention to prevent symptoms associated with hepatitis C: a pilot study

“…Other measures, not elaborated here, were before and after the 12-minute walk test and perceived exertion. Pretests and posttests of fatigue using the Schwartz Cancer Fatigue Scale (SCFS) (Schwartz, 1998a) and QOL using the Hepatitis Quality of Life Questionnaire (HQLQ; Ware, Bayliss, Mannocchia, & Davis, 1999) were measured on all participants. The SCFS is a 6-item multidimensional scale developed for patients with breast cancer taking chemotherapy.…”

“…Physical and perceptual scales were similarly excellent at .88 and .81, respectively. The HQLQ Version 1998 is a 17-question 56-item questionnaire composed of the eight subscales of the 36-item Short Form-36 version 1 and has been previously validated (Ware et al, 1999). The remaining four subscales are the hepatitis subscales.…”