Comparison of quality of life in hepatitis B virus carriers versus chronic hepatitis B virus carriers versus the normal population

Aim: To compare health related quality of life (HRQOL) in hepatitis B virus (HBV) carriers versus chronic HBV disease carriers versus the normal population. Materials and methods: The study sample consisted of 2 groups. HBV carriers were recruited from individuals who were regularly followed-up at the Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology outpatient clinic of our setting due to inactivity in HBV infection. The control group was recruited from the same outpatient clinic among patients who had adiagnosis of chronic HBV infection and who were not undergoing active treatment yet. Both groups were requested tofill in the short form 36 questionnaire on HRQOL (HRQOL-SF-36) and a form to gather data about age, gender, and education. We also compared the mean values of the SF-36 domain scores of these 2 groups with published scores of healthy controls derived from the Turkish population. Results: QOL in HBV carriers was greatly similar to that of patients with chronic HBV disease except for physical role limitation scores and both HBV carriers and patients with chronic disease had lower HRQOL than the normal Turkish population. Conclusion: When compared with the normal Turkish population, QOL is affected negatively both in chronic HBV infection patients and in HBV carriers.