Worse quality of life in volunteer blood donors with hepatitis C.

BACKGROUND: Health-related quality of life (HRQOL) encompasses many different aspects of health perceived by the individual, and its alterations in patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) have been recently reported. The objective was to study a population of volunteer blood donors at different stages of HCV liver disease. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: The Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36), a generic tool, was used to evaluated HRQOL. The SF-36 scores of HCV patients were compared with those of matched healthy blood donors and at the sixth month in those who were submitted to antiviral treatment. Sex, drug use, and alcohol consumption were also evaluated. A total of 120 HCV chronic carriers were divided into three groups: 1) patients with no indication for liver biopsy (n = 37); 2) patients submitted to liver biopsy with mild liver disease (n = 40); and 3) patients with moderate to severe liver disease submitted to interferon plus ribavirin treatment (n = 43). RESULTS: HCV patients had significantly lower SF-36 scores when compared with matched healthy blood donors. There was no correlation between SF-36 scores and history of intravenous and/or inhaled drug use or alcohol consumption. Women had lower SF-36 scores than men in six domains. At the sixth month of treatment, patients who continued to be positive for the presence of HCV RNA (nonresponders) had lower quality of life than those who became HCV RNA-negative. CONCLUSION: Healthy blood donors with HCV showed significantly reduced HRQOL that was more marked in women. The presence of the virus is one of the possible explanations for the reduced HRQOL.

Fatores prognósticos na evolução da hepatite C / Prognostics factors in evolution of chronic hepatitis C

O consumo alcoólico pode levar à deterioração da lesão hepática em pacientes com hepatite C. A progressão da doença na hepatite C crônica depende de vários outros fatores relacionados com o hospedeiro, vírus e o meio ambiente embora os mecanismos patogênicos ainda não sejam bem conhecidos. OBJETIVOS: avaliar os dados demográficos, epidemiológicos, clínicos e bioquímicos dos pacientes com hepatite C crônica em relação ao consumo alcoólico e relacionar as variáveis clínicas, epidemiológicas e bioquímicas em relação às alterações histopatológicas ausente e leve / INTRODUCTION: The interaction of hepatitis C with alcohol consumption is thought to be a deleterious one. Progression of liver disease in chronic hepatits C depends on several other factors related to the host, virus and the enviroment but, these factors are not well understood yet. AIMS:To analyze demographic, epidemiological, biochemical and histopathological data of patients with hepatitis C according to heavy, light or no alcohol consumption.To assess the behavior of clinical, epidemiological and biochemical variables in relation to absent or mild histopathological alterations in contrast to severe alterations. METHODS: We have studied the demographic, epidemiological and laboratory data and then compared them to the...