Health‐related quality of life in Chinese patients with primary biliary cirrhosis

Abstract

Symptoms and complications of primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) have been shown to impair patients' health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in the West. We aimed to measure the HRQOL and to determine the factors associated with worse HRQOL among the Chinese PBC patients in Hong Kong. Chinese patients with biopsy-proven PBC were compared with an age- and gender-matched control group of patients suffering from uncomplicated hypertension (HT) and chronic hepatitis B (CHB). Their HRQOL was assessed by a Chinese (Hong Kong) version of the 36-item short-form health survey (SF-36). The psychological aspect of patients was assessed by the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). Forty-four PBC patients aged 60 +/- 11 years were identified. PBC patients had more profound impairment in their HRQOL, as evidenced by their significantly lower Physical Component Summary (PCS) scores (39 +/- 11 vs 45 +/- 9 and 45 +/- 11, P = 0.009 and 0.01) and slightly lower Mental Component Summary (MCS) score (47 +/- 12 vs 51 +/- 10 and 48 +/- 11, P = 0.051 and 0.80) as compared with the HT and CHB control groups, respectively. High HADS-depression score was independently associated with lower PCS scores. More severe fatigue and higher HADS-anxiety and HADS-depression scores were independently associated with lower MCS scores. Chinese PBC patients have significant impairment of the HRQOL. The anxiety and depression status of patients had important contribution to the HRQOL.