HEALTH-RELATED QUALITY OF LIFE IN CHRONIC LIVER DISEASE: CLINICAL BURDEN, DETERMINANTS, AND IMPLICATIONS FOR PATIENT-CENTERED CARE.

BACKGROUND

Chronic liver disease significantly distresses patients' health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Factors such as ascites, hepatic encephalopathy, medication side effects, malnutrition, sarcopenia, frailty, the prospect of liver transplantation, caregiver reliance, financial burdens, and future uncertainty can all negatively influence HRQoL. Evaluating HRQoL in liver disease is critical. Recognizing factors that impair HRQoL in these patients enables the multidisciplinary team to promote health in a comprehensive biopsychosocial approach to well-being.

METHODS

We searched the PubMed database using these descriptors: health-related quality of life, cirrhosis, liver disease, alcohol-related liver disease, metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease, viral hepatitis, autoimmune hepatitis, primary biliary cholangitis, primary sclerosing cholangitis, hepatocellular carcinoma, liver transplantation, sarcopenia, frailty, and malnutrition.

RESULTS

HRQoL is negatively affected by the severity of liver disease and its complications. Moreover, nutritional and psychological aspects such as sarcopenia, frailty, malnutrition, fear of disease progression and need for transplantation, feeling of dependence on caregivers, and financial impacts of the disease also culminate in reduced quality of life.

CONCLUSION

People with chronic liver disease experience a significant impairment in their quality of life due to various clinical, nutritional, and social factors. For this reason, a multidisciplinary, global assessment with systematic appreciation of HRQoL at each consultation is essential when following these patients.