Quality of life in cirrhotic patients and liver transplant recipients

This study analyses the health related quality of life in patients diagnosed with hepatic cirrhosis (HC) in the three Child-Pugh stages (A, B and C) and in liver transplant recipients (OLT). Health related quality of life was quantified by the multidimensional psychometric test PLC (Siegrits. Boer and Junge, 1996). In general. patients HC and OLT had a poorer scores than the control group in Physical Well-being, Physical Function. Positive Mood, Negative Mood and Psychological Wellbeing scales. Also. patients with OLT present a better quality of life than patients with advanced cirrhosis (Child B and C) in scales that evaluate Physical, Psychological and Social functions. The OLT group even obtained higher scores in the Positive Mood scale than Child-A cirrhotics. Our results suggest that although quality of life in OLT patients does not reach levels of healthy individuals. it is significantly better than in cirrhotic patients, especially than those in advanced stages.