[Relationship between behavioral disorders and quality of life in patients with liver cirrhosis]

ABSTRACT

Chronic liver disease comprises a wide range of diseases characterized by inflammation of the liver and progression of cirrhosis. This study aims to assess the relationship between behavioral disorders and quality of life in patients with liver cirrhosis. The available sampling method was used to divide participants into two groups of 100 patients and 100 healthy individuals, matched for age, sex and education. Patients with cirrhosis were recruited from a subspecialty clinic in Imam Reza [AS] Hospital in Mashhad. The control group consisted of healthy participants. Participants completed the Beck Depression Inventory, State Anxiety Inventory-Trait Spielberger, Toronto Alexithymia Questionnaire and SF-36 Quality of Life Questionnaire. Research data were analyzed by Pearson correlation and multiple regression analyses. There was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of demographic variables. However significant differences existed between the variables of anxiety, depression and alexithymia. The patient group had higher depression levels compared to healthy controls. Multiple regression analysis showed that behavioral disorders, explain 30% of the variance in quality of life in patients with liver cirrhosis. These findings suggest that behavioral disorders are associated with quality of life in patients with liver cirrhosis. These results also have important implications in the field of psychopathology, prevention, and treatment of patients with cirrhosis of the liverand IV drug abuse, respectively. The prevalence of HIV coinfection amongst patients with hepatitis B or C infections was low. However, further studies with larger populations are required