FINDINGS:          

UCLA and Veterans Affairs Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System researchers found that patients with the Hepatitis C virus have a significant decrease in their health-related quality of life, although treatment success can reduce this negative effect. Authors found that traditional outcomes measured in patients, including liver enzyme levels and liver biopsies, don't always correspond to differences in quality of life. They conclude that in order to make better treatment decisions, both physicians and patients should understand how Hepatitis C impairs each patient's quality of life, including complications beyond just liver impairment.

IMPACT:            

More than 4 million Americans are infected with Hepatitis C. The new study identified the best way to measure quality of life in Hepatitis C patients and provides physicians with a simple method of monitoring their patients' quality of life in routine clinical practice.

AUTHORS:         

Dr. Brennan Spiegel and Dr. Fasiha Kanwal, Center for the Study of Digestive Healthcare Quality and Outcomes, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, are available for interviews.

JOURNAL:         

The research appears in the current online edition of Hepatology, the journal of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases. The study will appear in the April 2005 print edition. A PDF of the full study is available online at http://www.interscience.wiley.com/journal/hepatology.

FUNDER:            

Amgen Pharmaceuticals.

BACKGROUND:

To better understand how Hepatitis C influences health-related quality of life, researchers performed one of the largest reviews to date of the relevant literature. They wanted to improve assessment of Hepatitis C's impact on patients' lives and to develop a better monitoring tool, Spiegel said. Experts established that a 4.2-point change on a patient-reported vitality scale is the minimum change needed to prove if a treatment is effective. Evolving data suggests that other symptoms, not involving the liver, including hepatitis-related cognitive dysfunction, may also play a role in diminishing quality of life in patients. "We are just starting to understand all the factors in Hepatitis C that impact patients," Kanwal said. "We may find that we've been missing a good part of the story."

-UCLA-

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