Assessment of Hand Functions in Patients with Chronic Hepatitis B

Objective: Motor dysfunction is an important clinical finding in patients with liver cirrhosis (LC), but there is no study assessing fine motor coordination in patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB). We aimed to investigate hand functions and fingertip dexterity in patients with CHB. Materials and Methods: A total of 17 female and 15 male patients diagnosed with CHB without histopathological findings of cirrhosis were enrolled to the study; 21 female and 9 male healthy volunteers were included as a control group. Hand grip strength was assessed by Jamar hand dynamometer. Three kinds of pinch strength of fingers were assessed by Jamar pinchmeter. Functional status was evaluated by using the Stanford Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ). Duruoz Hand Index (DHI) was used to assess the hand functions. Fingertip dexterity was evaluated by Purdue pegboard test. Results: Bilateral hand grip strength and pinch strength were not statistically different from controls (p 0.05). There was also no significant difference between the categories of the Purdue pegboard test between the groups. HAQ scores of patients were higher than controls (p 0.05). Conclusion: Hand functions are not influenced in patients with CHB. Disruptions in the functional status of patients with CHB may be due to fatigue and depression, which are usually seen in chronic liver diseases.